[E-Daily Starin YUN GI BACK Reporter] Director Lee Chang-dong’s *Possible Love* continued to raise questions about labor and the responsibilities of filmmakers in North America. The film’s official screening at the New York Film Festival was sold out, and Director Lee became the first Korean to receive the “Auteur Award” at the Mill Valley Film Festival. Following Venice and Toronto, he met with audiences and filmmakers in major U.S. cities, expanding his reach ahead of the film’s Netflix release this November.

“Possible Love” tells the story of a laid-off worker and his wife, and a documentary filmmaker and her husband, who meet while making a documentary and come face-to-face with each other’s different lives and hidden desires. The film explores not only the worker’s suffering but also the perspective and ethics of the person capturing that suffering on camera.
Invited to the Main Slate section of the 64th New York Film Festival on the 27th of last month (local time), the film filled all 1,085 seats at Alice Tully Hall. This marks Director Lee’s fourth invitation to the New York Film Festival, following *Secret Sunshine*, *Poetry*, and *Burning*. After the screening, Director Lee, along with Jeon Do-yeon, Seol Kyung-gu, Jo In-sung, and Jo Yeo-jeong, engaged in a Q&A with the audience.
At the event, Director Lee pointed out that the meaning of labor is changing amid technological advancements such as artificial intelligence (AI). He went on to explain that he was only able to create the film after finding a structure that incorporated the stories of filmmakers seeking to address the issues and suffering of laid-off workers.
The actors also shared their reflections on how to portray their characters. Jo In-sung stated, “The director told me, ‘Don’t try to act. Just hold onto that emotion; you don’t have to force it into your performance,’” adding that he realized the power of restrained expression through the finished film. Jo Yeo-jeong, who played a documentary director, said she had many discussions with Director Lee about the ethical dilemmas her character faced.
The U.S. itinerary also served as an opportunity to introduce both the new film and Director Lee’s cinematic universe. The day before the screening at the New York Film Festival, a special 4K screening of *Peppermint Candy* was held at the Paris Theater, followed by a Q&A session with Director Lee and Seol Kyung-gu. Seol Kyung-gu remarked, “I never imagined I’d be having a conversation with an audience in New York about *Peppermint Candy* 27 years later.”
In New York and Los Angeles, invitation-only screenings were held for members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). By introducing the film directly to local film professionals following general festival audiences, the scope of discussion was broadened.

At a press conference in Los Angeles, Director Lee emphasized that losing one’s job can lead not only to a loss of livelihood but also to a loss of identity and relationships. Seol Kyung-gu also explained that he interpreted Ho-seok—a character scarred by layoffs and violent suppression—as “a person whose body itself becomes a language, rather than words.” This means that the silence in the film serves as a way to convey the characters’ suffering.
At the Mill Valley Film Festival near San Francisco—the final stop on his North American tour—Director Lee became the first Korean to win the “Ather Award,” the festival’s Best Director prize. “I have always strived not to lose my own voice and perspective,” he said, adding that he would take this award as encouragement to continue making films.
“Possible Love” will be released worldwide on Netflix on November 6. The questions regarding the ethics of labor and representation—which originated at film festivals and special screenings—are set to reach a wider audience.