The Schoolgirl's Diary

The Schoolgirl's Diary or The Journal of a Schoolgirl (Han nyeohaksaengeui ilgi) is a 2007 North Korean film directed by Jang In-hak. It is one of the few North Korean productions to be released internationally, and deputed in 2006 at the Pyongyang Film Festival; one of two films produced domestically that year. It reached theaters in France by the end of 2007.

Plot
Su-ryon is a North Korean teenager who struggles to understand her father's devotion to his country, and to scientific achievement at the expense of his own family's happiness. Spending the vast majority of his time at work as a computer engineer in a distant town, he leaves his two daughters, wife, and mother-in-law to live in their dilapidated rural home. In questioning her father's values, Su-ryon begins to defy her mother, a hardworking librarian who spends her evenings translating scientific articles for her absentee husband. Su-ryon realizes how selfish she has been only after her father makes a major breakthrough in his scientific research and is lavished with praise for his self-sacrifice, and devotion to the state.