SEOUL, Sept. 13 (Yonhap) -- From his directorial debut "Green Fish" (1997) to his latest feature "Possible Love" (2026), Korean auteur Lee Chang-dong is known for his realistic yet poetic portrayal of humanism and society.
"Possible Love," which won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize at the 83rd edition of the Venice International Film Festival, is another masterpiece that continues this cinematic journey by exploring themes of human connection, hidden desire and social status.
Throughout his 30-year career as a filmmaker, Lee has focused on the lives of seemingly ordinary people and how they are both shaped by and shape society.
This image, provided by Netflix, shows Korean director Lee Chang-dong working on set for his film "Possible Love." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
Born in 1954 in the southern city of Daegu, Lee majored in Korean language education and began his career as a high school teacher. After winning a major literary award in 1983, he began writing fiction while teaching and later moved into screenwriting.
In 1997, he made a sweeping debut in Korean cinema with his first feature film, "Green Fish," which portrays the tragic fate of a young man whose life is upended by rapid urbanization.
Through his second feature, "Peppermint Candy" (2000), which centers on a man whose life is swept up in South Korea's tumultuous modern history, Lee established himself as a filmmaker who navigates human trauma in harsh reality.
Yet, he remained committed to his belief in the enduring power of human dignity.
"An individual's life cannot be entirely free from history or social realities, because they do not leave an individual untouched," he said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency held around the release of the breakthrough film.
"At the same time, no political reality or destructive power that comes from the outside can completely destroy the nobility of human dignity," he added.
This image, provided by the Korean Film Council, shows a poster for the Korean film "Peppermint Candy" (2000). (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
Lee also turned the camera toward society's marginalized, portraying the unlikely romance between a woman with severe cerebral palsy and a man who has just been released from prison in "Oasis" (2002), his third feature.
The film, which earned him international acclaim, won the Silver Lion for best director at the Venice International Film Festival, with lead actor Moon So-ri also receiving an award for an emerging actor.
After a five-year hiatus, during which he also served as South Korea's culture minister and oversaw policies aimed at promoting the Korean film industry, Lee made a long-awaited return with his fourth feature, "Secret Sunshine," in 2007.
Starring Jeon Do-yeon, who also is the lead actor in "Possible Love," the film explores themes of agony, faith and forgiveness through a woman who loses her son. Jeon won best actress at the Cannes Film Festival for her role in the film.
Lee added another Cannes prize -- this time for best screenplay -- with his fifth feature, "Poetry," (2010), which weaves together quotidian beauty, human suffering and moral dilemmas through the life of an old woman whose grandson becomes involved in a crime.
The director, meanwhile, delved into the anxiety of the young generations and social class divisions that exist even among people of the same generation in "Burning" (2018), which competed at Cannes.
This still, provided by the Korean Film Council, shows a scene from the Korean film "Oasis" (2002). (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
"Possible Love," his first feature in eight years since 2018, asks what forms of love are actually possible through the intertwined lives of a laid-off worker and his spouse and a documentary maker and her wealthy husband.
While speaking to reporters at Venice, Lee noted how society continues to change, engulfing the lives of people without giving them much to do. Still, what saves ordinary people from such situations appears to be human connection with others, or love, he said.
Lee is known for posing questions for audiences rather than delivering a specific, clear-cut message in his films. The filmmaker said in 2022 that he wants his films to leave audiences with questions and make them feel that cinema is connected to life.
The auteur reaffirmed his determination to keep asking questions through cinema.
"We are living in an era where the meaning of labor is fading and human connections are increasingly becoming severed," he said in his acceptance speech for the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize.
"I made this film to ask what cinema can and should do in times like these. I take this award as a sign that you want me to keep asking these questions."
This still, provided by Netflix, shows a scene from Lee Chang-dong's latest feature, "Possible Love." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)