Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea is a black-and-white non-fiction graphic novel by the Canadian Québécois author Guy Delisle, published in 2003. The novel details the months Delisle spent in Pyongyang while working for a French animation company.

Overview

Pyongyang documents Delisle's experiences in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, where he stayed for two months. Acting as the liaison between a French animation producing company (Protécréa working for TF1) and the SEK Studio (Scientific Educational Korea) company, he struggles with the difficulties of outsourcing and the bureaucracy of the totalitarian closed state.

The book has 176 pages, two of them drawn by a French colleague ("Fabrice").

It was drawn in Ethiopia,

Cancelled film

New Regency was working on a film version of Pyongyang, with Steve Conrad to write the script and Gore Verbinski to direct the film, and to star Steve Carell. This was cancelled in December 2014 in the wake of response to the film The Interview, when the film's production company was hacked by North Korean operatives and threats were made against cinemas planning to show the film. Pre-production had begun in October 2014, and at the time of cancellation was still without a title. New Regency revealed that the scheduled distributor, Fox, cancelled their participation in the project after the incidents with The Interview.

See also

  • Burma Chronicles
  • Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City
  • Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China

References

  • Pyongyang Too, a photographic recreation of the graphic novel by Andy Deemer and Michelle Woo<!-- also available at https://www.guydelisle.com/divers/pyongyang_too/index.html -->
  • Intervalles Shenzhen Pyongyang , exposition on Delisle's work for French-speaking audiences, scenography by Bekir Aysan
  • Pyongyang on Guy Delisle's web page