Search The Archive

Search the film archive

“An outrageously funny study of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il's theories on moviemaking.” - Variety

The irony in Kim Il-sung's ideology of Juche (pronounced ‘choo-chay') - the independence of man and the spirit of self-reliance - being used as a basis for propaganda film is not lost on filmmaker Jim Finn, who with The Juche Idea brings us an inspired piece of self-reflexive satire.

In this faux documentary Finn takes a satirical look at the already absurd notions of free will under dictatorship,gradually expanding beyond sniping at dogmatic political ideology to poke fun at the pretensions of art in general.

“Evidence that current filmmaking is brimming with original, standard-breaking creations.” - Variety

---D/P/S Jim Finn WS Video Data Bank L Korean, English w/English subtitles TD betacamsp/2008