[1] The film's title refers to the turf of the stadium which annually hosts the May Day mass games in Pyongyang.

[2] The film is a romantic comedy, which involves a coach who is preparing a group of schoolchildren for the May Day mass games, and a former colleague who has now become his superior.

[2] Everyday life in North Korea is presented as being pleasant and trouble-free, with no evidence of reported food shortages and an emphasis on the people's devotion to the "Dear Leader".

It had been chosen by the festival committee from a selection of ten films, and aroused a great deal of interest despite being shown without subtitles and with a German-language-only voice-over.

Sheila Johnson of FIPRESCI regarded it as a "rare and fascinating curiosity", but noted: "On the Green Carpet, with its flat, high-key lighting, functional editing and over-fondness for the zoom lens, could have been made forty years ago; although the subject might be superficially similar, it was executed with none of the technical brilliance of a Leni Riefenstahl movie.