It focused on the cult of personality in North Korea, and was shot in 1988 on the 40th anniversary of the state's founding by Kim Il Sung.
[1] The North Korean regime invited filmmakers from countries then considered friendly (Communist), including People's Republic of Poland, which sent a team under Andrzej Fidyk.
[2] The documentary is primarily composed of declarative statements, as well as texts of North Korean newspapers and books.
[2][4] However, the documentary's real aim, widely recognized abroad, was to condemn the totalitarian regime, through shocking contrasts of official images, and documenting artificial behavior of the populace.
[5] It also received the Grand Prix at the International Film Festival in Leipzig, Golden Ducate in International Film Festival in Mannheim, Srebny Lajkonik (Ogólnopolski Festiwal Filmów Krótkometrażowych in Kraków) and Złoty Ekran (Nagroda Tygodnika "Ekran") in Poland, all in 1989.