# Bend It Like Beckham remains only film released in every country, including North Korea 2026-08-20T12:17:33+00:00 | Entertainment | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet Gurinder Chadha's Bend It Like Beckham completed 24 years on July 12, and the film holds the unique distinction of being the only movie in cinema history to have been distributed in every country, including North Korea. Made on a $5.6 million budget, the film grossed $92.2 million worldwide. The film was first screened in North Korea at the 9th Pyongyang International Film Festival in 2004, where it played at three cinemas over four days and reached 12,000 people. On December 26, 2010, it became the first Western film to air nationwide on North Korean state television, as part of celebrations for 10 years of UK-DPRK diplomatic relations. However, the 112-minute film was heavily censored to just an hour for the broadcast, as it touches on taboo topics in North Korea including interracial relationships, homosexuality and religion. ## Indian Opinion Analysis The North Korean broadcast was a diplomatic milestone, but the censorship underscores how even a feel-good sports film about football, a sport popular in the DPRK, cannot escape the regime's strict control over content. Chadha's film remains the only Western feature to have aired on North Korean state television, a feat no other film has matched in the 14 years since. The key question now is whether any future film can replicate this distribution record, especially given North Korea's tightened border and media restrictions post-pandemic. ## Coverage - bollywoodhungama.com Reports the facts of the film's distribution and censorship without editorialising, though the headline uses capitalisation for emphasis. This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: Bend It Like Beckham, Gurinder Chadha, North Korea Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/bend-it-like-beckham-remains-only-film-released-in-every-country-including-north-korea/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/bend-it-like-beckham-remains-only-film-released-in-every-country-including-north-korea/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/