Netflix Adds Lee Chang-dong Films After Venice Win for Possible Love

Netflix will make more films by South Korean director Lee Chang-dong available around the world after his latest feature, Possible Love, won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

The Silver Lion, formally the Grand Jury Prize, is the festival's second-highest prize. Possible Love received it at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, according to festival organiser La Biennale di Venezia La Biennale di Venezia. The win was followed by confirmation of an expanded Netflix rollout, as reported by Variety.

Possible Love is Lee's first film in eight years. It stars Jeon Do-yeon, Sul Kyung-gu, Zo In-sung and Cho Yeo-jeong, and follows a laid-off worker and his wife who meet a documentary filmmaker and her spouse and confront hidden desires. Its original Korean title is Ga-neung-han sa-rang and its runtime is 164 minutes, according to La Biennale's competition listing. It is also his first Venice competition entry in nearly 25 years.

The film will keep a staggered cinema-then-streaming pattern, known in the business as release windows. It opens in South Korean theatres on Sept. 23. It then opens in Australia and New Zealand on Oct. 22, and in the U.K., Japan, the U.S. and Canada on Oct. 23. It will premiere globally on Netflix on Nov. 6.

The wider catalogue is rolling out in stages by territory, under licences that differ from country to country. Green Fish, Lee's 1997 directing debut, and Secret Sunshine began streaming on Netflix in late August in Italy, the U.K., France, Australia and New Zealand. Peppermint Candy and Oasis joined the service in Italy and Spain on Sept. 4. Poetry and Burning are planned for markets including Japan, the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

In some territories the films will carry subtitle options in as many as six languages, including Korean, Netflix said in its newsroom release, 'Netflix Brings Lee Chang-dong's Acclaimed Films to Global Audiences' Netflix.

Lee has a long history with the major festivals. Oasis brought him a directing prize at Venice in 2002. Poetry won the screenplay award at Cannes in 2010. He also became the first Korean filmmaker to receive the Ebert Director Award at the 51st Toronto Film Festival.

Possible Love is now South Korea's submission for best international feature film at the 99th Academy Awards.

For viewers, this means the new film will play first in cinemas in its listed markets before it lands in one place worldwide in November, with much of Lee's earlier work arriving alongside it.