Ten Zan: The Ultimate Mission

Ten Zan: The Ultimate Mission
US DVD cover
Directed by	Ferdinando Baldi (as Ted Kaplan)
Written by	Ferdinando Baldi
Produced by	Scino Glam Massimo Vigliar
Starring	Frank Zagarino Mark Gregory Romano Kristoff Sabrina Siani
Cinematography	Marcello Masciocchi
Edited by	Med Salkin
Music by	Elio Polizzi
Distributed by	Surf Film
Release date	1988 (1988)
Running time	84 min.
Countries	Italy North Korea
Language	English

Ten Zan: The Ultimate Mission (also known as Missione Finale) is a 1988 science fiction action film written and directed by Ferdinando Baldi under the pseudonym "Ted Kaplan".^[1] The film stars Frank Zagarino, Mark Gregory, Romano Kristoff, and Sabrina Siani. It was Baldi's final film before his death in 2007.

The film, an international co-production between Italy and North Korea, was filmed on-location in the latter country. To date, it is one of the few Western-produced non-documentary features to be shot in the country, and one of the only films made there to feature American actors. The film portrays North Korea as a futuristic utopia, a decision which Baldi later explained as "a conscious avoidance of reality" foisted upon the production by the local regime.^[2]

Ten Zan was one of eight North Korean films to be shown at the Udine Festival of Far East Film in 2000. In a report of these screenings for Asiaweek, Richard James Havis regarded the film as "truly lamentable", saying: "The acting is worse than that of the propaganda movies, as is the plot."^[2]