Aim High in Creation

Anna Broinowski lives in a small, peaceful village in Australia, but the peace will potentially be gone for good if a company is allowed to start drilling for gas nearby. Broinowski is worried, both about what the drilling will do to the local nature and the possible effects on her daughter's health. Inspired by revolutionary North Korean cinema, she sets out to make a propaganda film aimed at stopping the gas drilling. She travels to North Korea, where the country's best filmmakers show her how to make a film in which the "bad local politicians" are defeated by the "heroic, hard-working citizens." With the film rules of Great Leader Kim Jung Il as her guide, she apprentices with a North Korean director, takes acting and taekwondo lessons, and learns about film music. She also meets with people from the film industry, who on the one hand choose their words with the utmost caution, but on the other show genuine warmth. Back in Australia, her cast is drilled at a veritable Kim Jong Il boot camp, set up by Broinowski to help them convey true Socialist emotion. This amusing and thoughtful documentary brings North Korean and Western cinema closer together. And Broinowski takes the tips from her North Korean counterparts to heart: the camerawork, editing and music in the documentary all show elements derived from North Korean films.