[van-announce] An Interdisciplinary progressive art exhibition and film festival

[aliy]

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*Please forward to friends and allies*

The CBC, Canada’s national public broadcaster, now
features Irwin Oostindie’s new multimedia project
about North Korea on their homepage at www.cbc.ca
(it's titled 'Northern Exposure'). This runs from
January 9—16, 2004, and is also available at
www.cbcradio3.com. A North Korean Film Festival, Art
Exhibition, and radio programs are also happening now
through January 24 in the Vancouver area. Please read
media release below and log onto www.axistogrind.com

For more information or to get involved, contact Irwin
Oostindie at info at axistogrind.com

C A P I L A N O   C O L L E G E   A R T   I N S T I T
U T E   -   N E W   M E D I A
M E D I A   R E L E A S E   1 2 . 1 7 . 0 3

Irwin Oostindie
Axis to Grind: Inside North Korea

An interdisciplinary art exhibition and film festival
at various Vancouver venues
January – February, 2004 and online at
www.axistogrind.com

In 2002, George Bush targeted North Korea as a regime
seeking weapons of mass destruction and branded North
Korea, Iran and Iraq as members of the “axis of evil.”
Vancouver artist Irwin Oostindie challenges the
pervasive demonization of North Korea with Canada’s
first film and photographic arts exhibition addressing
the politics of peace on the Korean peninsula.

Oostindie’s large-format photographs and film clips,
shot on both sides of a divided Korea, offer a
uniquely human look at North Korean life and expose
American misrepresentation of one of its last cold war
enemies.

Alongside the art exhibition, Oostindie brings
together rare film shot in—and about—North Korea. The
Axis to Grind Film Festival features several Canadian
premiere screenings aimed at shattering the myth of
North Korea as an isolated gulag. Described as a lover
of film, North Korea’s “Dear Leader” Kim Jong Il
supports a film industry churning out dozens of
domestic films each year. Recently two western film
crews were permitted entry to document life in the
country—with the resulting films, The Game of Their
Lives and North Korea: Beyond the DMZ to be featured
in the Vancouver festival.

Axis to Grind coincides with multinational
negotiations set to resume in Beijing in January to
end North Korea’s potential nuclear weapons
proliferation in exchange for a non-aggression pact
from the USA. 2003 also marks the 50th anniversary of
the official end to the Korean War, which saw 43,000
Canadian troops join in a United Nations “coalition of
the willing” dominated by American soldiers. Two
million Koreans died in the war—which never officially
ended—and hostilities and deadly skirmishes continue
to this day. One million North Korean soldiers
continue to face down 637,000 South Korean and US
troops across the world’s most heavily fortified
border.

------

For film and public event schedules, artist
statements, resources on North Korea, and photographs
see the online program at www.axistogrind.com
Axis to Grind: Inside North Korea Exhibition
Capilano College Art Gallery, January 5-20, 2004

Axis to Grind: Inside North Korea Film Festival
Capilano College, Cedar Auditorium, January 13-15,
2004 3:30-10pm
S.F.U. Harbour Centre Fletcher Challenge Theatre,
January 17, 2004, 1-10pm
Langara College, January 21-23, 2004 • U.B.C. Norm
Theatre, February 2004



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