International Press Reviews Follow Official Screening — Korea's Entry for the 99th Academy Awards' International Feature Film Category

Actors Zo In-sung (from left), Cho Yeo-jeong, Jeon Do-yeon, and Sul Kyung-gu attend a press conference for Possible Love at Hotel Naru Seoul – MGallery Collection in Mapo District, Seoul, on August 25. <Yonhap News>

Lee Chang-dong's Possible Love had its world premiere in the Competition section of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival on September 6 (local time). Following the official screening at the Sala Grande of the Palazzo del Cinema on Venice's Lido Island, the audience gave the film a six-minute standing ovation. Director Lee Chang-dong and lead actors Jeon Do-yeon, Sul Kyung-gu, Zo In-sung, and Cho Yeo-jeong attended a photocall ahead of the screening.

The 83rd Venice International Film Festival opened on September 2 and runs through September 12. This year's Competition lineup includes several films addressing contemporary issues, and actress-director Maggie Gyllenhaal serves as jury president. Winners, including the Golden Lion, the Competition's top prize, will be announced at the closing ceremony on September 12. Possible Love was also named Korea's entry for the International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards, as announced by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) on August 25.

A Laid-Off Worker's Couple and a Documentary Director's Couple: Lee's First Feature in Eight Years Unveiled on the Lido

Possible Love is set against the backdrop of a general strike and its violent suppression. The film follows what unfolds when Ho-seok, a laid-off worker still living with the aftermath of that suppression, and his wife Mi-ok, meet documentary director Ye-ji and her husband Sang-woo, who set out to film them. Sul Kyung-gu and Jeon Do-yeon play Ho-seok and Mi-ok, while Cho Yeo-jeong and Zo In-sung play Ye-ji and Sang-woo. It is Lee Chang-dong's first feature film in eight years since Burning (2018), and his first collaboration with Netflix.

At an official press conference held on the Lido on September 6, Lee Chang-dong said that the conditions of life had changed dramatically in the eight years since Burning. He explained that, having passed through a period when audiences could not go to theaters, he wanted the film to raise questions about an era in which human relationships are being fundamentally transformed. Following the screening, international media assessed both the film's treatment of class and desire and the performances of its four lead actors.

The committee that selected Korea's Academy Awards submission was made up of 15 members, chaired by critic Jung Sung-il. The jury gave high marks to the film's overall craftsmanship, the director's message, and its mise-en-scène, and the selection process also took into account interest from North American media and Lee Chang-dong's body of previous work.

First Venice Competition Entry in 24 Years Since Oasis

This marks Lee Chang-dong's first appearance in the Venice International Film Festival's Competition section in 24 years, since Oasis in 2002. Oasis won the Silver Lion for Best Director at the time, and also the Marcello Mastroianni Award for a new actor, which went to Moon So-ri. At the Academy Awards, Burning became the first Korean film to make the shortlist for Best Foreign Language Film.

This is the second consecutive year a Korean film has appeared in the Venice Competition section, following Park Chan-wook's No Other Choice last year. No Other Choice did not go on to win an award.

To meet Academy Awards eligibility requirements, Possible Love will first open in select theaters in Korea on September 23 before streaming on Netflix from November 6. The film has also been confirmed for the Special Presentations section of the 51st Toronto International Film Festival. Whether it makes the Academy Awards shortlist will be decided later this year, with the ceremony set for March 2027. Attention now turns to how Possible Love will be received as it makes its way through the two festivals.

Sources

• Etoday, "Lee Chang-dong's First New Film in 8 Years, Possible Love — All-Star Cast Assembles," 2026.08.25

• Etoday, "'A Master's Masterly Film'... Lee Chang-dong's Possible Love, Korea's Pick for the U.S. Academy Awards," 2026.08.25

• Kyunghyang Shinmun, "What Does It Take for Love to Be 'Possible'?... Lee Chang-dong's New Film Tells the Story of a Laid-Off Worker and His Family," 2026.08.25

• Segye Ilbo, "'In an Age of Labor and Capital, It's Love That Sustains Life,'" 2026.08.25

• Kyunghyang Shinmun, "'Will It Take Home the Golden Lion?'... As Venice Film Festival Opens, Lee Chang-dong's Possible Love Arrives in Venice After 24 Years," 2026.09.03

• Kyunghyang Shinmun, "Possible Love Arrives at Venice Film Festival... Sul Kyung-gu: 'Experienced Lee Chang-dong's Magic of Returning to First Principles,'" 2026.09.06

• Segye Ilbo, "Lee Chang-dong's Possible Love Receives Six-Minute Standing Ovation in Venice... Foreign Press Also Praises the Film," 2026.09.07