Korea Selects Lee Chang-dong’s ‘Possible Love’ As Oscars Best International Feature Contender

The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) has selected Lee Chang-dong’s Possible Love as Korea’s official entry for the Best International Feature category of the Academy Awards. Netflix, which financed and has international rights to the film, recently confirmed it will receive an Oscar-qualifying theatrical release in Korea, U.S. and other select territories following its premiere at the Venice and Toronto film festivals. KOFIC’s selection committee praised the film for its “cinematic completeness, the clarity of the director’s message and its excellent mise-en-scene”, also mentioning the strength with which Lee has portrayed the multidimensional characters and their complex relationships. Lee’s first film in eight years, Possible Love follows two married couples – a laid-off worker and his wife, and a documentary filmmaker and her husband – whose paths cross when the filmmaker sets out to film them, bringing both marriages face to face with their different lives and hidden desires. Watch on Deadline Co-produced by Anonymous Content and Korea’s NOWFILM and Pinehouse Film, the film features a strong ensemble cast including Jeon Do-yeon, who previously worked with Lee on Secret Sunshine, Sul Kyung-gu, Zo In-sung and Cho Yeo-jeong. Lee’s 2018 Burning, which won the FIPRESCI Prize in Cannes, became the first Korean film shortlisted for an Oscar in the international feature category, although it did make the final nominations. Korea also selected Secret Sunshine in 2008 and his 2003 film Oasis, making Possible Love his fourth film to be represent the country at the Oscars. Possible Love is premiering in competition at this year’s Venice film festival and has also been selected for the Special Presentations section of Toronto.