— Overview
This reading follows a family whose days were directed, and they keep Mansky’s comparison with the Soviet Union in the window in which they wrote it.
— Contents and key concepts
A year in Pyongyang, and a joining that is being prepared
This reading reads Under the Sun as a 2015 documentary by the Russian director Vitaly Mansky, who followed a family in Pyongyang for a year. On the surface the film tracks the daughter, Jin-mi, as she prepares to join the children’s union. What they take as the core is something else: the script, the places, and even the checking of shots were, they write, a staging handled by the North Korean side. How thoroughly everyday life on screen had been arranged is, in their reading, what the film lets a viewer confirm.
Two years of talks, and a camera left running
They first set out how the film was made. A Russian production company spent two years negotiating with the North Korean Ministry of Culture, they write, and obtained permission to film. The director then decided to keep a camera running in secret. He felt, they record, that North Korea was harsher than the Soviet Union, and they set that feeling beside a comparison with the freedom to criticize that had existed, in their wording, in Soviet times. Those comparisons stay as given in this reading.
Directed speech, idolized streets, a question of freedom
The later pages are the writer’s own watching. A family whose speech and gestures were directed, and streets in Pyongyang that seemed idolized, left a sense of suffocation, and turned the writer to a question about freedom in North Korean society. Other names in the family are not given, and none is added here. The same Korean report, at fuller length, is on CampusDown.
Sources
- This reading, a student reading of Vitaly Mansky’s 2015 documentary Under the Sun, with a Pyongyang family, daughter Jin-mi, two years of talks with the culture ministry, and a camera left running, left as recorded in this reading.
Last updated: 15 November 2026
Frequently asked questions
What film do this reading describes, and whom do they follow?
Under the Sun, they write, is a 2015 documentary by the Russian director Vitaly Mansky, who followed a family in Pyongyang for a year. The film tracks the daughter, Jin-mi, as she prepares to join the children’s union, but the core, they argue, is that the script, the places, and even the checking of shots were staged by the North Korean side.
How do they say the film was permitted, and what did the director do with the camera?
A Russian production company, they write, spent two years negotiating with the North Korean Ministry of Culture to obtain permission to film. The director then decided to keep a camera running in secret. He felt, they record, that North Korea was harsher than the Soviet Union, and they set that feeling beside a comparison with the freedom to criticize that had existed in Soviet times.
What did the writer take from the family’s days?
Watching a family whose speech and gestures were directed, and streets in Pyongyang that seemed idolized, the writer was left with a sense of suffocation, and turned to a question about freedom in North Korean society. Other family names are not given, and none is added here.
Refund policy
- Change of mind / refund requested after partial use / more than 7 days after purchase
◆ Exceptions
- File errors / cannot download or open the file
◆ How to request a refund: send a 1:1 inquiry via Customer Service at the top