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In the summer of 1989, the 13th edition of the World Festival of Youth and Students was held in North Korea. Thousands of socialist youth from 177 countries gathered in Pyongyang to champion peace, anti-imperialism and international solidarity.
The 1989 host country celebrated the huge event with parades, dancing and chanting crowds, but beneath the idealism of the young participants, communism was creaking, just months away from the collapse of the Eastern Bloc.
Amateur filmmaker Emilian Urse, a member of the Romanian delegation, documented the event from the inside, filming the pomp and propaganda, the earnest hope for a better society, and the thinly veiled unrest within the socialist world family. Behind the celebration, a crucial shift was on the horizon, signalling the end of an era, and this pivotal moment is captured in a time capsule by Urse’s rediscovered footage.