So some of you may be wondering what the message is behind our campaign posters. The poster you see here can have a lot of different meanings and interpretations, but I will tell you what it means to me. The people of North Korea live in a country that is shut off from the rest of the world. They do not have access to any communication devices that we take for granted every day. They know only what their government tells them (which is mostly propaganda enabling the extreme cult of personality surrounding the Kim dynasty). However, lately there have been reports of more information getting inside North Korea via radio, cell phones, etc. As North Koreans begin to learn more about the outside world, it further highlights the injustices they are facing on a daily basis. The trust they have in their own government is diminishing as they learn about the many lies they’ve been told over the years about the world outside of North Korea. In the image above, there is film wrapped around the man’s face, specifically covering his mouth. This represents the lack of freedoms felt by the North Korean population, specifically their freedom of speech. The fact that you can only see his one eye is representative of the North Korean people starting to get a glimpse of the world outside their own; however, they are still unable to voice their concerns about the regime because they risk losing their lives or getting sent to a labour camp. The film wrapped around his face is showing the oppression this man feels, as well as his inability to change his situation. We chose to use film reel to represent the mission of our film festival, which is to show the stories of the North Korean people through film. The film reel is also representative of spreading awareness and allowing the North Korean voice be heard through film, to the people of Toronto who will attend the NKHRFF. As I said before, this image can mean different things to different people. We’d love to hear how this campaign makes you feel, what thoughts or feelings it evokes in you. Visit our FB page or comment here and let us know! http://www.facebook.com/NKHRFF

Thanks for all your support Toronto,

Michelle Ragno