Interview with director

What was the main impulse for you to visit North Korea?
Last year at the One World film festival, a North Korean refugee was invited to speak at the screening of a film about North Korea. I asked him what a person from Central Europe can do to help North Koreans. He replied that the most important thing for them is permanent interest of the media which will hopefully lead to a fall of the regime. That was a strong impulse for me to make this film.
And of course I am lured, as well as the others, by particularity of this country.

It is forbidden to bring cell phones, video cameras, GPS navigation etc. to North Korea. How do you think it is possible you could get in with cameras and bring back all the film material?
We simply took the risk. Before leaving I found out cameras of the usual tourist size will probably pass. We dismantled mics and accesories and put them in different bags. Nevertheless, the first thing I was asked when I happened to be alone with our “guides“ was if I was the Linda who was going to make a film there. And all the time, suspiciously enough, they gave us no trouble at all, sometimes they even gave me advice how to make a better take. And on the way across the Korean-Chinese border when a custom check was going on, we were possibly the only tourists in the whole train car whose photos were not inspected, none of them deleted and who were asked no questions. So I presume they knew about the filming from the beginning to the end and they decided to allow it. No idea why.

Did you have a concrete idea beforehand what the final version of the film would be like?
I had many ideas. I was ready to be stopped from entering North Korea with cameras, or maybe to get in but then not succeed to film anything or that noone on the tour will want to talk to us. Obviously, the possibilities of filming were very limited, we were under unceising supervision and the tour was perfectly organised so we saw a minimum from “real North Korea“. But that‘s what we expected. So already in Prague I decided that the main focus of the film would be how the tourists view the illusion presented to us by North Koreans. And tourism as an interesting phenomenon of the modern age.

North Korea appears to be a gloomy, constrained place, a reminiscence of the Czech Republic of the times not so long ago. Did the thick, corny porpagandist atmosphere seize you?
Yes, very intensively. Complete greyness and an unease that I’d not known before was intensified by a feeling of unfitting. We, the western tourists, spend six days in this country and we complain about the depressive atmosphere around – but the people who we met there spend their whole life in this.

What impressed you most in North Korea, both positevely and negatively?
In a way it was fascinating to see how one person can control the whole country, like a director controlling his puppets. A profound propagandist system may have seemed funny, however it is still very dangerous. What I found very depressive is the country – every little piece of land was used for farming, even the space between unused train rails. What was obvious is absence of water ditribution systems and frequent power cuts. Those people do not look happy and satisfied, which is the image the official sources try to give to the world. Billboards and sculptures of the Beloved Leader were always in good condition, and properly lighted. We perceived our guides very positively – our original expectation was they would be our personal StB agents – but actually we met very nice and friendly people. However, their friendliness could be a part of a well-working system.

One of the rules is it’s not possible to separate from the group. Did any of the people on the tour break this rule?
Before the departure we were told that it would be the “guides“, not us, to be punished for every violation of the rules. So nobody on the tour wanted to send to a concentration camp any of the nice and friendly Koreans who took care of us. And apart from it, if somebody had walked away, where would they have gone? What would they‘ve done? They wouldn‘t be able to speak with anybody anyway and would be recongnised immediately being white....

How did the guides act when they were asked about the monstrosity of their political system?
Our “guides“ were very well trained in how to interact with the strangers and what to say to them. These people are some of the few who speak English, a contact with strangers is something completely out of the ordinary in North Korea. They told us they had spacious flats and that they were happy. They live in Pyongyang, which is somewhat of a shop window of the country, a city were only the privileged can live.

Who and why do you think goes on a tour like this?
That’s actually one of the main themes of the documentary. The question why somebody longs to be shut in one big concentration camp and be in the role of a Zoo visitor. Some went there because they’d been to all other places, some because they want to be the only ones from their city to be there, who can be proud about having such experience, some enjoy discovering the dark side of humankind. Some wanted to remember the old times, some are simply fascinated by this country.

Were you suprised in any way about how the participants reacted during the tour?
It was interesting to observe how reactions of the tour members varied according to their age and profession. The older shared their experience with the communist system in our country, builders made comments about differences in North Korean building projects, sensitive souls who were appaled at the unconsoled state of country people...

If you had another chance to return to North Korea, would you go?
I would definitely not go there as a tourist. I’d go to North Korea only in case my presence would have some sense – for example humanitarian.

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