Direction: Vitaly Mansky - Production: Natalya Manskaya - Script: Vitaly Mansky - Music: Karlis Auzans - Photography: Alexandra Ivanova - Sound: Karlis Auzans - Editing: Andrej Papernij - Producing organisation: Studio Vertov - Coproducing organisations: Ceská televize, Saxonia Entertainment, MDR - Year of production: 2016
Abstract:
“My father says Korea is the most beautiful country in the world. Here the sun always rises first,” says Sin Mi, the 8 year-old protagonist of the documentary. Russian filmmaker Vitaly Mansky followed the girl and her family for one year, although the script was actually written by the North Korean authorities. For the film crew it was in fact virtually impossible to take a single step without being watched. Therefore, what we see is a perfect girl in a perfect school; the daughter of perfect parents who is educated to become a valuable member of a perfect society. However, the documentary furthermore exposes, thanks also to some striking images, this staged reality and offers a unique insight into everyday life in Pyongyang.
Motivations:
The task of the jury was not very easy: to choose just one prize from 54 entries of different media and different genres. The jury members coming from very diverse backgrounds (university, cinema, theatre, broadcasting), in the end unanimously choose a project with a great actuality and importance, of high technical and artistic quality, that offers a unique inside view, a window on a world we do not know much about. And a production perfectly in line with the theme of this years’ Prix Italia: “Back to Facts”.
The Jury:
Sergio Escobar (Head of “Piccolo Teatro Milano”, Italy), Louis Heinsman (NPO, International Relations-Senior Advisor, Netherlands), Paolo Magri (Executive Vice President and Director of the “Italian Institute for International Political Studies” (ISPI), Italy), Maurizio Nichetti (Film Director, “Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia”, Italy), Severino Salvemini (Professor of Company Management, Bocconi University, Italy), Laura Zagordi (Head of “Civica Scuola di Cinema Luchino Visconti Fondazione Milano”, Italy).
The President:
Louis Heinsman (NPO, International Relations-Senior Advisor, Netherlands)
