Screen/Society--Cine-East--Transnational North Korea--"The Flower Girl"

Film Screening: THE FLOWER GIRL (PAK Hak and CH'OE Ik-gyu, 1972, 127 min, North Korea, in Korean with English subtitles, Color, DVD). -- Widely regarded as the best film ever made in North Korea, and often labeled "the North Korean GONE WITH THE WIND," THE FLOWER GIRL is a melodramatic tale of the Korean struggle against Japanese occupation. This iconic classic of North Korean propaganda film tells the story of Koppun, a poor flower seller caring for her sick mother and blind sister. The family endures a series of tragedies and sadistic punishments by an evil landlord before the flower girl's brother, a member of the Korean Revolutionary Army, sweeps in and overthrows the landlord. Supposedly written by Kim Il-Sung himself, the film is an adaptation of an opera by the same name, one of the "Five Revolutionary Operas." -- Co-sponsored by the Korea Forum at Duke, and the following organizations at UNC: the Carolina Asia Center, Center for Global Initiatives, Asian Studies, Cinema Studies, and the Curriculum in Peace, War, and Defence.