‘Bend it Like Beckham’ - first Western-made film to air in North Korea

LONDON - North Koreans got a break from the regular TV programmes this week, when British football film ‘Bend it Like Beckham’ was aired in the country.

The 2002 film stars Keira Knightley, Jonathan Rhys Myers and Parminder Nagra.

The people regularly get to see news, documentaries and soap operas, while western films are largely off limits in the isolated country.

Meanwhile, the broadcast, monitored in Seoul on December 26, appeared to be heavily edited, as it was only an hour long.

The full film, however, is 112-minute long.

British Ambassador to South Korea Martin Uden took to Twitter to trumpet the broadcast writing, “Happy Christmas in Pyongyang. On 26/12 Bend it like Beckham was 1st ever western-made film to air on TV,” reports the Daily Mail.

‘Bend it Like Beckham’ features a sport beloved among North Koreans, but it also many taboo topics, like interracial relationships, homosexuality and religion. (ANI)