Liberation DayMorten Traavik & Ugis Olte

The ever closed, strict communist North Korea welcomed its first western rock band in 2015. And the honour went to... Laibach. Who? A Slovenian band that brings neoclassical covers of cheesy songs like Live is Life and The Final Countdown. A funny and improbable story, despite (or just because of) its absurdity, giving a lot of information about North Korea and its ambiguous relationship with the West.

The rock group Laibach, which was located in former Yugoslavia about 35 years ago, was very controversial from the beginning. It was primarily their visual style - with many references to fascism and dictatorships - that triggered both admiration and abhorrence. Ironically, precisely these rockers were invited to the first North Korean international rock concert in 2015. Liberation Day follows the band's entourage from their arrival in North Korea onto their performance at the rock concert.
 
The enigmatic Morten Traavik is both director of the film as was he the concert manager of Laibach. Like an invisible strategist he is involved with the secret, ruthless power problems that occur backstage, bringing the rock band where no rock band had ever gone before, all the way to the isolated North Korea. The confrontation between the Slovenian rock band and the strict ideology of North Korea, its powerful censorship and estranged public (totally unfamiliar with rock 'n roll) provides the unique material for this original, funny and at the same time thoughtful documentary.



Mildly comical Music Remarkable stories

Vertoond op editie(s) 2017
Screened at edition(s) 2017

Info

Directed by Morten Traavik & Ugis Olte
Latvia, Norway
98 min.
English, Korean
Subtitles: English

Programme

Festival favorites*

credits
Director

Morten Traavik & Ugis Olte

Producer

Uldis Cekulis

Production company

VFS Films, Traavik.info

Cinematography

Sven Erling Brusletto, Valdis Celmins

Editing

Ugis Olte, Gatis Belogrudovs

Music

Laibach

Contact info
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(en screener)
(beschikbaar vanaf 20.03)