Director Lee Chang-dong Returns with New Netflix Project

Lee Chang-dong, one of South Korea’s greatest filmmakers, makes his highly anticipated return to the screen with a new Netflix film tentatively titled Possible Love. The film will star the legendary Sul Kyung-gu, with whom Chang-dong previously worked on Peppermint Candy and Oasis, along with Jeon Do-yeon, who featured in his film Secret Sunshine, and renowned actors Zo In-sung and Cho Yeo-jeong.

Possible Love marks Lee Chang-dong’s comeback after an eight-year hiatus, following his acclaimed psychological thriller Burning, which premiered at Cannes and was South Korea’s Oscar entry in 2018. The plot of this new story centers on the lives of two married couples—Ho-seok (Sul Kyung-gu) and Mi-ok (Jeon Do-yeon), and Sang-woo (Zo In-sung) and Ye-ji (Cho Yeo-jeong)—after a chance encounter unexpectedly intertwines their lives, causing tensions to rise in their respective relationships.

A festival circuit veteran and acclaimed arthouse director, Lee Chang-dong’s legacy is defined by critically acclaimed films, like Green Fish (1997), Peppermint Candy (1999), Oasis (2002), Secret Sunshine (2007), Poetry (2010), and Burning (2018). He’s also the recipient of numerous prestigious awards—Oasis earned him the Best Director Award at the Venice Film Festival (2003), while Secret Sunshine bagged titles for the best film and director at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (2007), the Asian Film Awards (2008) as well as the Korean Film Awards (2007). Poetry received the Best Screenplay Award at Cannes in 2010, and Burning received the FIPRESCI International Critics’ Prize at Cannes in 2018, with his body of work culminating in a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019 at the 13th Asian Film Awards.

Lee Chang-dong’s cinema shines a raw light on human suffering, from emotional trauma to existential dilemmas. And if his new film Possible Love is any indication, he’s still got a lot to say about navigating the messy, often harsh aspects of life, love, and conflict. According to Netflix, the film is an exploration of “human experience through the detailed changes the characters face” in their lives.

Possible Love, written by Lee Chang-Dong and Oh Jung-Mi, is “now in production,” says Netflix, and is expected to release next year.