South Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong is adding to his awards collection with the Mill Valley Film Festival‘s Auteur Award, Gold Derby has learned exclusively.
At this year’s festival (MVFF49), which will be held in October, Lee will be honored with a Spotlight Program, feature a screening of his latest film, Possible Love, which has just been selected by South Korea as its official selection for Best International Feature for the upcoming Academy Awards, followed by an onstage conversation with Lee. The event will take place on Oct 2.
Possible Love marks his first feature in eight years, following Burning, Poetry, Secret Sunshine, and Peppermint Candy. The movie centers on two married couples — a laid-off worker and his spouse and a documentary filmmaker and her spouse — whose lives intersect while filming a documentary, forcing them to face their different lives and hidden desires.
Possible Love will premiere at the Venice Film Festival, followed by runs at the Toronto International Film Festival and the New York Film Festival. It will hit theaters on Oct. 23, before streaming on Netflix on Nov. 6, positioning it for an awards-season run.
Lee Chang-dong’s films include Green Fish, Peppermint Candy, Oasis (Silver Lion for Best Director, Venice), Secret Sunshine, Poetry (Best Screenplay, Cannes), and Burning, which became the first Korean film to be shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best International Feature. Before turning to film, Lee was an acclaimed novelist and briefly served as South Korea’s minister of culture and tourism.
