THE TALE OF CHUN HYANG/

The local adaptation of one of the most famous Korean folk tales in both the North and South, The Tale of Chun Hyang is a costume drama that deals with class struggle through a tale of forbidden love between a young nobleman and a beautiful artist. A tale that is to Korea what Romeo and Juliet is to the West. It seems that Kim Jong-il was particularly fond of period dramas: Braveheart and Elizabeth were thus classic fare at the Pyongyang International Film Festival. This also explains why, with some 2,000 film adaptations, The Tales Of Chun Hyang has been made and remade so frequently there. − Julien Fonfrède