Pyongyang Crescendo
It’s a film about the people living within a totalitarian system. A unique story about real people, not selected by the North Korean authorities. And contrary to most films shot in North Korea, none of its scenes were staged for the cameras by the government.
Most films shot in North Korea look alike. They depict a part of society that North Korean authorities want to show us. Foreign filmmakers are invited to tour the statues, the monuments and the birth house of the Great Leader.
Pyongyang Crescendo is not a guided tour.
It’s a film about the people living within a totalitarian system. A unique story about real people, not selected by the North Korean authorities. And contrary to most films shot in North Korea, none of its scenes were staged for the cameras by the government.
German conductor Alexander Liebreich is the first and only European conductor who has been allowed to enter North Korea to work with North Korean musicians. Now, he is given 10 days to teach a group of North Korean students how to conduct music they have never heard before.
Pyongyang Crescendo focuses on two of his students. The energetic but shy Mrs. O un Mi and the insecure Mr. Han Song Hjong. Mrs. O has to conduct Gustav Mahler’s deeply melancholic Adagietto, but she has to fight the prejudice of her teachers that women can’t properly conduct Mahler. Will she beat her male competitor Mr. Hwang and will she dare to open herself and show her inner strength in front of the orchestra?
Her fellow student Mr. Han will be conducting a piece by the German composer Hartmann that was written in the 1930s. The Nazis labeled it ‘degenerate music’ and the first performance of this work in the totalitarian state of North Korea is nothing less than a statement.
As the students struggle to master their pieces, a creative process unfolds in which music is teaching the isolated students a universal language.
Although the filmmakers were not allowed to interview the students, they were able to follow the instruction and shoot freely at the University of Music and Dance in Pyongyang. Even when the pressure rose, with the orchestra and students failing in rehearsals, the filmmakers were not hindered in any way -- a unique opportunity in a country where imperfection is something to hide from outsiders.