War of Art

In London, computer sensors record the movement of snails, whose shifting composes music. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, a painter in North Korea creates a socialist realist portrait of his leader. Art manifests itself in two such utterly different ways. Norwegian director Tommy Gulliksen decided to bring these two worlds together, and sets out for Pyongyang with a group of artists. He believes that the totalitarian regime can be convinced of the benefits of contact with the Western style, and that bored European art consumers will find new inspiration by encountering a different mentality. But the first step to understanding each other is not enough, and the film illustrates how much people growing up in different environments can differ. Will the whole thing end in merely a fun but ephemeral meeting? (One World)