If you could only show a single film to highlight the best of western culture for a notoriously isolated regime, what would it be? Citizen Kane? Gone With the Wind? Star Wars? How about a film revolving around two girls fall in love with their soccer coach?
North Korea opted for the latter, picking Bend it like Beckham as the first Western commercial film to be aired on television in that country. The 2002 movie, which features some non-government sanctioned topics such as homosexuality, aired the day after Christmas in that country, with a little help from the British embassy.
The airing of the film marked a 10 year diplomatic relationship between England and North Korea, according to AFP. The film got its first showing in 2006, during the Pyongyang film festival. Over 12,000 people watched Beckham in that setting.
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