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Instead of viewing North Korea from the outside in, this article examines what the regime tells its own subjects through film. From the beginning, the relationship between cinema and the dictatorship, with all its spectacular trappings, seemed essential. State cinema, while officially towing the socialist-realist line, also experienced several turning points, such as the release of Flower Girl in 1972. This famous blockbuster from the former Soviet bloc shows the emergence of Kim Jong-Il and Juche, the national North Korean ideology based on the resurgence of long-lost traditions. Behind a facade of de-politicisation, the film’s hybrid form, combining Hollywood-like heroes and stars and Soviet populism, legitimises the politico-religious cult of the new hereditary Kim dynasty.