Director Lee Chang-dong's 'Possible Love' Invited to the Competition Section of the Venice Film Festival

Korean Film Heads to Venice Competition for Second Consecutive Year

A scene from Possible Love. Provided by Netflix

Director Lee Chang-dong is aiming for the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival with his new film Possible Love, marking his return to the competition after 24 years.

On July 23, the 83rd Venice International Film Festival held a press conference and announced the films invited to the competition section, including Possible Love. The festival will take place from September 2 to 12 on Lido Island in Venice, Italy.

The films invited to the competition section will compete for the festival’s top prize—the Golden Lion—as well as Best Director, Best Actor and Actress, Best Screenplay, and other awards.

This is the first time in 24 years that a film by Lee Chang-dong has been selected for the competition section at the Venice Film Festival since Oasis in 2002. At that time, Director Lee received the Best Director award, and Moon So-ri won the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best New Young Actress.

Possible Love is Lee's first feature film in eight years since Burning. The film tells the story of two couples, leading very different lives, who come together through the making of a documentary. A dismissed worker and his wife, along with a documentary director and her husband, are forced to confront each other’s lives and their hidden desires.

The film stars Jun Do-yeon, Seol Kyung-gu, Cho In-sung, and Jo Yeo-jeong. Director Lee teams up with Jun Do-yeon again after Secret Sunshine. For Seol Kyung-gu, this marks his third collaboration with Lee, following Peppermint Candy and Oasis.

Korean films have been invited to the competition section of the Venice Film Festival for a second consecutive year, following Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice last year. The only time a Korean film has won the Golden Lion was in 2012, when Kim Ki-duk's Pieta took the top prize.

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