The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will present the 2014 Soon-Mi Yoo documentary Songs from the North (북녘에서 온 노래) on July 27, as the second installment of its online Summer Screenshots: Hot Nights And Cold War series. From a New York Times review:
More art-video installation than typical documentary, “Songs From the North” is mostly nonnarrative, drawing on North Korean film and TV clips to sketch a sensibility that — however stoked by propaganda — prizes family above all and melds that with a zealous commitment to the fatherland. Song and music invoke shared ideals of sacrifice, honor and patriotism; one televised event that features a young boy crying as he sings of his love of country — as an audience of dignitaries also sobs — is moving and disturbing.. . .
Scattering history lessons and ambiguous imagery amid Ms. Yoo’s engagement with North Koreans, her film implicitly asks: What must they think of us?The presentation runs from 4:00 to 7:00 pm; registration will be required, though the registration link does not yet show the July installment.
