Welcome To North Korea! / 26 aprilie / 20h00 / Centrul Ceh

DOCUMENTARY MONDAYS
un eveniment Centrul Ceh sustinut de Pilsner Urquell

Bun venit in Coreea de Nord! este un documentar care urmareste calatoria unui grup de turisti cehi in teribila realitate nord coreeana.

VITEJTE v KLDR! Rep. Ceha, 2009, 76min.
Regie: Linda Jablonska
VO ceha / subtitrari in engleza

La 18 ani de la eliberarea propriei tari de sub un regim totalitar, 27 de turisti cehi privesc acum o natie subjugata cultului personalitatii unui dictator care nu ezita sa isi trimita supusii in lagare de concentrare si sa ameninte marile puteri ale lumii cu atacuri nucleare. Pentru unii o calatorie zguduitoare inapoi in trecut, pentru altii o oglinda a prezentului.

+ expozitie de fotografie

Slon, Satul Nou / cand ignoranta autoritatilor locale submineaza societatea

Satul Slon, aflat in judetul Prahova, la 70 de km de Ploiesti pare un sat ca oricare altul. Daca te-ai afla doar in trecere, privind doar oamenii instariti din acest sat, n-ai reusi sa intelegi ca ‘peste deal’ exista aproximativ 100 de familii aflate in dificultate, fara curent electric, fara drum de acces, fara scoala si fara cele necesare unui trai decent.
Am fost acolo, un grup de prieteni si cel mai mult ne-au impresionat copiii.
Au venit la noi, ne-au zambit si ne-au convins sa mai venim o data.
De data aceasta insa, nu ne vom afla doar in trecere: vom merge pentru a-i face sa zambeasca de ziua lor.
In acest sens vom organiza un eveniment in data de 8 mai in clubul Cool Cat din strada Gabroveni 13, in cadrul caruia vom strange de la fiecare dintre participanti o jucarie, o hainuta, o carticica sau dulciuri si le vom darui lor in data de 1 Iunie. Daca totusi nu reusiti sa ajungeti la eveniment si doriti sa ajutati acesti copii, puteti sa aduceti donatiile si la Centrul Ceh, de luni pana vineri intre orele 10.00-18.00 pana in data de 28mai.

Contact: Dragos Butca dragos.butca@yahoo.com +40728990973

ENGLISH VERSION

In its catalog, a Czech travel agency offers a “journey into the unknown,” a tour of North Korea. The film follows 27 Czechs who have decided to spend approximately 2,600 Euros on a sightseeing tour of a country that cultivates a cult of personality, maintains concentration camps for its citizens, and doesn’t hide its development of nuclear weapons. Under the leadership of Kim Jong-Il, North Korea’s has reinforced its status as a nation that refuses to open itself to the scrutiny of the world; a fiercely Stalinist regime in a world where Communism has become an anachronism, North Korea is a place where human rights violations are common, government control of the daily lives of its people is a given and hostility towards the United States is a dangerous but popular game. Foreign visitors are only allowed a view of a carefully prepared illusion, thoroughly supervised by “guides.” What is more, the North Korean system is starkly reminiscent of the Czech tourists’ own past. Which emotions do these travelers experience: sympathy, nostalgia or, in contrast, happiness that “we already have this behind us?” How does a Czech person, after being accustomed to eighteen years of freedom and democracy, come to terms with the directives and restrictions of a totalitarian system?
The travelers are not investigative journalists and they are not trying to expose anything about the government or society instead they stick to a well-managed routine, although as the holiday progresses other aspects of the culture start to become apparent.
The film Welcome To North Korea! is a witty but sometimes harrowing chronicle of what Jablonska and her fellow visitors found there – hotel rooms wired with surveillance devices, cheerful tour guides who were the only Koreans permitted to talk to the tourists, vast buildings that have gone unfinished thanks to financial troubles, grinding poverty among the people while the Czechs are shown uncommon generosity, and frequent tributes to the Communist state that seem either ironic or baffling to the Czechs.

+ photo exhibition / Slon 

Linda Jablonska

Linda Jablonska was born in Prague. After finishing high school, she studied at the Documentary Film Department of the FAMU film school. She graduated in 2006 with the feature-length film Left, Right, Forward. This picture about young people with political ambitions was distributed in cinemas and won awards at the Jihlava IDFF, Famufest and Febiofest festivals. In her work, the director often focuses on human rights themes and controversial contemporary issues. In 2008, she made Czech Heat, a film which recorded the attitudes of Czechs to climate change. A year later, she shot the short film Breaking the Circle, documenting the work of a Doctors without Borders mission in Guatemala, which helps victims of sexual violence. Linda Jablonska’s most recent film is Welcome to North Korea (2009) about a tourist visit to the Asian dictatorship. This was screened in Czech cinemas in February 2009 and will be shown at this year’s One World festival as part of the One World On-line section. The director is currently working as an instructor in workshops for the mentally handicapped at the Inventura non-profit organization.

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