Veteran South Korean filmmaker Lee Chang‑dong made a highly anticipated return to the big screen at the Venice Film Festival on Sunday, unveiling his new drama “Possible Love.” The film, which South Korea has submitted as its Oscar entry, dramatizes the 2009 mass‑layoff strike at a major conglomerate that sparked a prolonged protest and a violent police crackdown, leaving many workers deeply traumatized.
From documentary to drama
Lee explained that he originally intended to make a straightforward documentary about the dispute more than a decade ago, but set the project aside after discovering an existing, thorough documentary on the subject. “There was already a great, honest and sincere documentary out there, so I wasn’t sure whether I really needed to dramatise their lives,” he told Reuters.
In 2024, longtime collaborator Oh Jung‑mi encouraged Lee to revisit the story, suggesting a hybrid approach that blends the labour narrative with the fictional tale of a documentary filmmaker. The resulting film follows two couples—played by Jeon Do‑yeon, Sul Kyung‑gu, Cho Yeo‑jeong and Zo In‑sung—whose lives intersect during the making of a movie about the laid‑off workers.
Characters grapple with dignity and change
Jeon portrays the wife of a former employee still bearing the emotional weight of the strike’s fallout. She is described as a “passionate character with a very strong will, who tries to keep steering the family in a hopeful direction.” Zo In‑sung plays the affluent husband of the documentary maker, noting that the film’s focus on work and human dignity resonates in an era of rapid technological change. “With the emergence of AI and the potential loss of the value of human labour, we must continue to discuss how to maintain human dignity,” he said.
Venice as a platform for difficult questions
Venice holds special meaning for Lee, whose 2002 drama “Oasis” earned the festival’s Silver Lion for best director. He hopes the new film will encourage audiences to confront challenging social issues. “I hope the story shown in this film becomes an opportunity for more people to watch and understand the film, and to find their own answers to the questions the film raises,” Lee said.
“Possible Love” joins 20 other titles competing for the Golden Lion, and its selection underscores the continued relevance of South Korea’s labour struggles in a global conversation about workers’ rights, dignity, and the impact of emerging technologies.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
