Now Reading: Bend It Like Beckham remains only film released in every country, including North Korea
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Bend It Like Beckham remains only film released in every country, including North Korea
Bend It Like Beckham remains only film released in every country, including North Korea
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…
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.
Source: bollywoodhungama.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
