THE FILM

In 1966 the North Korean football team created the greatest shock in World Cup history. Arriving in England in 1966 for the 8th World Cup as 1000-1 outsiders, they performed miracles, knocking out pre tournament favourites Italy and storming to a 3-0 lead over Portugal in the Quarter Finals. They had arrived in London an enigma, foreign in every aspect of their make-up. For a brief period they would become the darlings of the nation, their exploits the stuff of legend. Yet once their adventure was over, the plane taking them home might as well have been flying them to the moon. Today, almost as little is known of the players and their country as was the case in 1966.

Nothing had been heard from the team since they returned home from their matches in England. For years, rumours persisted, particularly in South Korea, that North Korea’s World Cup heroes had been sent to labour camps on their return from England and that they remained in dishonour.

In 2001, after four years of negotiations, Nicholas Bonner (Koryo Tours) and Daniel Gordon (VeryMuchSo Prodcutions) were granted unprecedented official access to North Korea to interview the players about their experiences at the 8th World Cup. The Game of Their Lives is more than a football film. It is a tale of struggle and success, the beauty of sport crossing cultural barriers. It is the story of how an unfancied team from a Communist country arrived in England at the height of the Cold War and is not only adopted by the local townspeople of Middlesbrough but also ends up winning the hearts of the whole country.

It was released worldwide to great reviews and won various awards including the British Royal Television Sports prize for Best Sports Documentary. Perhaps the highest accolade was that the film was screened and broadcast in both North Korea and South Korea 

NICHOLAS BONNER BIO

UK citizen Nicholas Bonner first visited North Korea in 1993. At that time, Bonner was a guest lecturer in Landscape Architecture at Beijing’s Forestry University whilst also studying Mandarin. The unexpected trip to Pyongyang came about upon the invitation of a North Korean he met while playing soccer in the Chinese capital. Struck by his experiences in this unique country, Bonner teamed up with a partner to start Koryo Tours – a travel agency specialising in trips to North Korea. His company now takes around 2,000 Western tourists a year to Pyongyang, and beyond.

“We all have our own preconceptions about North Korea, but this tends to come from an extremely limited perspective, often resulting in very black-and-white viewpoints. No one was actually engaging with North Koreans, nor did the West have any new insights into the country,” says Bonner. “Over the last 24 years, Koryo and I have looked for ways in which to work with the North Korean people – whether that be through tourism, film, art or other cultural events – and, ultimately, promote engagement as a tool for creating dialogue and understanding.”

 As a regular visitor to North Korea, Bonner – who is also an illustrator and filmmaker – became increasingly acquainted with the country, and was eventually granted unprecedented access to film there for his 2002 documentary The Game Of Their Lives, which told the forgotten story of North Korea’s 1966 World Cup soccer team. Bonner then went on to produce two more documentaries in North Korea, one following two girls as they prepare to perform in the Mass Games, the other about an American who has been living in Pyongyang since defecting from the US Army in the 1960s. Bonner’s films have won a number of awards at various major festivals.

Other projects include co-directing a feature film in North Korea. The result was Comrade Kim Goes Flying, the country’s first “girl power” rom-com, and the first ever North Korean film to be screened to the public in South Korea. Bonner also worked with a North Korean architect and artist on a series of images imagining their country’s future landscape for an exhibition that made up part of the South Korea-curated pavilion at the 2014 Venice Biennale, which then won the Golden Lion. Bonner continues to travel regularly to North Korea, and is currently working with a number of emerging artists there by providing them with a space and platform to experiment outside of their everyday restrictions.