North Korea has an ice hockey team? Documentary showcases hermit kingdom’s difficulties meshing with other cultures

One of the more peculiar things – and there are a lot of them – about Nigel Edward’s documentary Closing the Gap, is the likelihood of the film’s protagonists actually seeing themselves on-screen.

“It’s unlikely that the players will ever see the film,” said Edwards about the North Korean men’s ice hockey team, who are the focus of his movie.

Closing the Gap, which made its debut in December at the Whistler Film Festival, takes an unprecedented look inside North Korea’s hermit kingdom. The one-party state, ruled by Kim Jong-un and officially called the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, is known for being cut off from the outside world. Citizens, according to Human Rights Watch, live in one of the planet’s most repressive states.

Virtually all civil and political liberties are controlled by the Workers’ Party of Korea, but this did not stop Edwards from gaining access to film the country’s ice hockey team as they prepared to travel to New Zealand for the 2017 International Ice Hockey Federation’s tier-three world championships.

Edwards, who gained access through one of the film’s producers who has been leading tourist groups through the country and also worked with NGOs in North Korea, first headed to the Asian nation in 2016 for a development trip. From there, he and his crew were invited to follow the team from the capital Pyongyang where they train, to Auckland, New Zealand.

Edwards said setting foot in the country was most definitely something he will never forget.

“Much like everyone else’s experience my first time was exactly that – surreal,” said the Canadian. “The people were the most interesting. Their memory was so acute and their humility was palpable. Beyond that it was incredibly beautiful in a way that we just don’t see any more in the West.”

The film, which takes a “fly on the wall” approach, does not weigh into the country’s political situation outside of interviews with the players talking about winning for their country, and also does not touch on North Korea’s macroeconomic state. Edwards said this was crucial: the goal was to make a film about the ice hockey team, and let the visuals speak for themselves.

“Everything in North Korea is difficult and takes time. Us being there is already political so we didn’t want or need to inject anything outside of what we filmed. Some of the roadblocks along the way were certainly building trust with the players and officials.

“When we showed up the second time in the spring of 2017, I think most of the players were fairly surprised to see us again, which lent itself to building more trust. We made a promise and delivered on that promise to return.”

North Korea has long had a prickly relationship with outside nations, most notably the United States. While President Donald Trump has taken a new, offbeat approach to relations with Kim, the country is still widely seen as a dangerous wild card still technically at war with South Korea.

With somewhere around 25 million people, it largely relies on trade with China to stay afloat, given it has been hit with heavy sanctions over the years for its constant aggressive stance when it comes to military action and threats of nuclearisation. Edwards said despite all of this, North Korean ice hockey players are pretty similar to ice hockey players anywhere on the planet.

“I get this question a lot and what I find the most fascinating about these players is the unremarkable nature of their desire. They just want to win. They just want to do well for their family and country the same as any national level athlete. For them, they’ve already won by being on the national team and moving their family to Pyongyang.”

Edwards is hoping the documentary will get picked up by Netflix or Amazon Prime sometime this year and said he has plans to take a team of Western players this spring to play in a hockey tournament in the capital. He said through it all, once you are on the ice, everything else tends to become secondary.

“So that being said, the switch was really easy,” said Edwards about leaving politics behind when filming in the country. “We spent our time in a cold hockey rink, which so many Canadians can identify with, and it was no different than being back home.”