South Korean director Lee Chang-dong's new film Possible Love has won the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival, the festival's second-highest competition honor. The award marks the first time a Korean film has taken the prize and gives Lee another major Venice distinction 24 years after he won the Silver Lion for directing Oasis in 2002.
Lee accepted the award at the closing ceremony on September 12 and credited the film's four leading actors, Jeon Do-yeon, Sol Kyung-gu, Zo In-sung and Cho Yeo-jeong. He said the prize belonged to the performers who gave the film its life. The recognition followed a strong festival reception that included a seven-minute standing ovation after its world premiere and a separate FIPRESCI critics' award earlier in the festival.
An eight-year return lands at Venice
Possible Love is Lee's first feature since Burning, released eight years ago. The film brings together a documentary filmmaker and a laid-off worker's household, using encounters across different class positions to examine desire, exploitation and the ethics of looking at other people's lives. Lee said he made the film to keep asking what cinema can do at a time when work is disappearing and human relationships are becoming more fragmented.
The Grand Jury Prize gives the film a significant international launch ahead of its wider release. Festival awards can help an auteur film secure distribution, critical attention and a longer theatrical life, particularly when the director already has a strong global reputation. For Korean cinema, the first win in this specific Venice category also adds another top-tier festival milestone after decades of increasing international recognition.
The Golden Lion went to May el-Toukhy's Woman Unknown, leaving Possible Love with the competition's runner-up honor. Attention now turns to the film's release schedule, international distribution and awards-season path. The Venice result has already established that Lee's return after an eight-year gap is not merely a comeback by a celebrated director but one of the year's most internationally recognized Korean films.