Program Note
Coalminer, Comrade Kim dreams of flying so she wants to become a trapeze artist at Pyongyang Circus. She is initially dismissed by trapeze star Pak Jang-phil, but when she and her miner colleagues show off their own stunt flying, he is impressed and sincerely apologizes. We follow the progress she makes as a trapeze artist, dealing with the limitations of acrophobia and being a working class woman. This combination of a lively, adventurous woman making huge efforts to achieve her dream, leaves Comrade Kim Goes Flying full of hope for the future, symbolized by both Kim’s dream of flying and her pride in being working class, so central to North Korea. One of the co-directors, Nicholas Bonner made The Game of Their Lives (2002) and Crossing The Line (2006). Co-produced by North Korea, UK and Belgium, Comrade Kim Goes Flying was first screened at the Toronto Film Festival in 2012. (MO Eun-young)