World Cinema Series - The Flower Girl

Korean with English subtitles

Directors: Choe Ik-kyu, Pak Hak
1972 | Democratic People’s Republic of Korea | 127 min | Digital Beta | Rating TBC | In Korean with English subtitles

Based on a revolutionary opera written by Kim Il-sung, The Flower Girl is set in the 1930s during the Korean independence movement and tells the tragic story of a poor family oppressed by their cruel Japanese colonial masters. The film stars the 17-year-old Hong Yong–hee as Koppun, a young girl who picks flowers from the mountainside to sell at the market to help support her sick mother and blind younger sister.

Winner of a special prize at the 18th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 1972, The Flower Girl is the first international breakthrough for North Korean cinema. Shot in colour and filled with epic, soul-stirring songs about the struggle against injustice and oppression, the film was massively popular in China during the Cultural Revolution, where the heart-wrenching story has been ingrained into the collective memory of an entire generation of Chinese moviegoers. In North Korea, the film was such a huge success and cultural phenomenon that the image of actress Hong Yong–hee was printed on the national currency. This screening is made possible with the kind support of the Korea Film Export and Import Corporation.