The documentary film Under the Sun has garnered international attention for its previously unseen and up-close look beneath the surface of North Korea’s propaganda machine, above all because it ended up very differently to how both its director and local hosts expected.

After originally striking an agreement with Russian filmmaker Vitaly Mansky to film a heavily structured documentary of a young girl, Zin Mi, joining the DPRK’s Children’s Union, things started to divert from the original plan when about two-thirds of the film had been completed.

“I did not have any special reason to doubt that we wouldn’t finalize the