Lost in translation: When US and North Korean filmmakers made a movie together | NK News
August 15, 2024
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Lost in translation: When US and North Korean filmmakers made a movie together

‘The Other Side of the Mountain’ aimed to transcend politics, but was weighed down by a sappy plot and pro-DPRK message
Tatiana Gabroussenko August 15, 2024
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Lost in translation: When US and North Korean filmmakers made a movie together
A still from the film "The Other Side of the Mountain"

North Korea routinely pillories the U.S. as an empire of evil, a leader of gangsters and a warmonger destroying peace on the peninsula as part of propaganda that has vilified Washington since the days of the Korean War.

But for one unprecedented movie, the Kim regime made the unusual decision to work with American filmmakers to tell a story that aimed to transcend the political divide between the two Koreas.

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About the Author

Tatiana Gabroussenko

Tatiana Gabroussenko

Tatiana Gabroussenko obtained her PhD in East Asian Studies at the Australian National University. She is currently a professor of North Korean studies at Korea University, Seoul. Her latest book, "Soldiers on the Cultural Front: Developments in the Early History of North Korean Literature and Literary Policy," was included in the Choice magazine list of Outstanding Academic Titles of 2012.

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