Bright Future
Andra MacMasters / Romania / 2024 / 88 min
A deeply fascinating time travel to North Korea, where young socialists from all over the planet gathered in 1989, a few months before the collapse of the Eastern Bloc.
In the summer of 1989, young socialists from 177 countries gathered for a huge youth festival in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. Consider for a moment that it would have happened today, and how things have gone since. Even though it was sunny and the spirits and idealism of the young participants were high, communism itself was creaking under everyone’s feet. China had cracked down hard on the protests in Tiananmen Square. The Soviet Union was a living museum. And in Romania, Ceaușescu’s time as dictator was soon to come to an abrupt end. It was all just a few months away from collapse, and luckily the youth festival was documented by a film crew. ‘Bright Future’ rediscovers the incredible material with analytical precision, the necessary sense of humour and a loving solidarity with the young idealists’ sincere dream to make the world a better place. A film in the spirit of the new wave in Romanian cinema.