Lee Chang-dong's 'Possible Love' enters Venice competition — 12th Korean film to do so

by Son Mi-jeong

Published : July 24, 2026 - 07:24:00

Director Lee Chang-dong's upcoming Netflix film "Possible Love" has been officially selected for the main competition section of the Venice International Film Festival, one of the world's four major film festivals — marking the 12th time a Korean film has competed at Venice.

Netflix announced Friday that "Possible Love" has been invited to compete at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, set to open in September. The film follows two couples — a laid-off worker and his wife, and a documentary filmmaker and her husband — who meet during the production of a documentary and find themselves confronting each other's contrasting lives and hidden desires.

The Venice competition is the festival's main section and the arena where its top prizes, including the Golden Lion, are awarded. Notable Korean films that have competed there include Kim Ki-duk's "Pieta" (2012), the first Korean film to win the Golden Lion, as well as Park Chan-wook's "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance" (2005) and "No Way Out" (2025).

Lee returns to the Venice competition for the first time in 24 years, having last competed there in 2002 with "Oasis," which won the Silver Lion for Best Director and the Marcello Mastroianni Award for emerging actor Moon So-ri.

"Possible Love," Lee's first film in eight years, is also generating anticipation for its cast of some of Korea's most celebrated actors: Jeon Do-yeon, Sul Kyung-gu, Jo In-sung and Jo Yeo-jeong.

Jeon, who won Best Actress at the 60th Cannes Film Festival for "Miryang," reunites with Lee in the role of Mi-ok, while Sul — who previously starred in Lee's "Peppermint Candy" and "Oasis" — returns to work with the director again as Ho-seok. The film also marks the fourth on-screen pairing of Jeon and Sul.

Jo In-sung and Jo Yeo-jeong play Sang-woo and Ye-ji, a couple whose lives stand in stark contrast to those of Mi-ok and Ho-seok.

balme@heraldcorp.com