A HUMUNGOUS thanks to Guim, owner of the Hanoi Bicycle Collective, for hooking me up with my first screenings of The People's Crisis and Danny from North Korea. THBC is a kind of half-bicycle shop half-restaurant and cafe located next to West Lake in the architecturally appealing old quarter of Hanoi. Guim settled in Hanoi and opened THBC after cycling around the world on an e-bike. In Guim's own words, "Just as an electric bike is neither a motorbike nor a bicycle, THBC is neither a cafe nor a bike shop, but a hybrid space." I think what Guim's done with the place is pretty much every cycle tourist's dream. A place where people can gain a sense of community through bicycles, chat, eat, drink, all with grease-stained hands after working on their bikes.
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Above: View from the second floor of THBC, and Minseong examines the flyer for my screening! Thanks Guim for printing those out!
The cafe portion of THBC transforms into a theater in the evening, I did my first screening on Sunday, November 17th, for a small audience. It turns out that there was a big fundraising event for victims of the recent typhoon in the Philippines on the same night, which may have detracted from attendance, so Guim graciously asked me to do another screening the following Thursday.
I think I did a better job of presenting at the second screening, and included more information about my bike ride, as well as some anecdotal stories from refugees. Most of the attendees seemed engaged, and although a few didn't really know what to ask, many had quite a few questions, mostly about where LiNK's funds come from, and how North Koreans escape from North Korea in the first place.
All in all, the two screenings were pretty successful, and I feel like interests were peaked, and people went away feeling more curious about the North Korea issue. Hopefully I'll get to do many more of these screenings; the only problem is finding suitable venues. Places like THBC, hostels, cafes, etc are good, but it's hard to locate them with enough lead time to organize a screening. So if you know of anyone or anywhere you think I could show LiNK's documentaries and give a short talk, please let me know!
Above – Me, Guim, Shakies, and some of the film screening attendees after the show.
