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Director Lee Chang-dong's new film "Possible Love" has been invited to the main competition section of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, scheduled for this coming September. / Photo courtesy of Netflix

Director Lee Chang-dong's new film "Possible Love" has been invited to the main competition section of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, scheduled for this coming September, the festival organizers announced during a press conference on July 23.

Alberto Barbera, artistic director of the festival, introduced the film on the day, remarking, "Lee Chang-dong is one of Korea's great directors," and adding, "This film was inspired by an episode from Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski's television drama series Dekalog." Kieślowski is well known among Korean cinephiles for his Three Colors trilogy—Blue, White, and Red—as well as A Short Film About Killing.

Marking the 12th Korean film to enter the Venice competition and Director Lee's first release in eight years since Burning, Possible Love is a Netflix original film depicting the story that unfolds when two couples from starkly different economic backgrounds meet to create a documentary. Sul Kyung-gu and Jeon Do-yeon star as a laid-off worker and his wife, while Cho Yeo-jeong and Zo In-sung portray a documentary director and her husband, respectively.

With this inclusion, Korean cinema secures a spot in the Venice main competition for a second consecutive year, following Director Park Chan-wook's No Other Choice last year. Furthermore, Director Lee sets his sights on a competition award at Venice for the first time in 24 years since Oasis in 2002, which earned the Silver Lion for Best Direction, the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actress (Moon So-ri), and the FIPRESCI Prize.

Including Possible Love, 20 films have been invited to this year's main competition section to contend for the festival's highest honor, the Golden Lion, including Director Hirokazu Kore-eda's Look Back, Director Danny Boyle's Ink, and Director Werner Herzog's Bucking Bastard. Representing Korean cinema, the late Director Kim Ki-duk's Pieta previously received the Golden Lion in 2012.

Counted among the world's top three international film festivals alongside Cannes and Berlin, the Venice International Film Festival will take place on Lido Island in Venice, Italy, from September 2 to 12 local time.

                                                                                                         Cho Seong-jun