South Korea Picks Lee Chang-dong’s ‘Possible Love’ for the 2027 Oscars Race
South Korea has officially selected director Lee Chang-dong’s Possible Love as its entry for the Best International Feature category at the upcoming Academy Awards, marking the celebrated filmmaker’s first new feature in eight years and his fourth film to represent the country at the Oscars.
The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) announced the decision on Tuesday, with its 15-member selection committee praising the film for its cinematic completeness, the clarity of Lee’s directorial message, and its accomplished mise-en-scène. The panel also highlighted the strength with which Lee portrays multidimensional characters and their complex relationships, pointing to what it described as his characteristic depth of humanism and delicate direction. According to reports, the committee also noted strong early interest from North American media as an additional vote of confidence in the film’s awards prospects.
Possible Love follows two married couples whose lives intersect following a funeral. One storyline centres on Mi-ok and her laid-off husband Ho-seok, played by Jeon Do-yeon and Sul Kyung-gu, who live quietly with their young son. The other follows Ye-ji, a documentary filmmaker working on a project about laid-off workers, and her husband Sang-woo, played by Cho Yeo-jeong and Zo In-sung. As Ye-ji sets out to film the struggling family, the two couples are drawn together, confronting each other’s vastly different circumstances along with their own hidden desires.
Speaking about the project, Lee said he spent more than a decade developing the story, which was inspired by a real-life mass layoff at a major Korean conglomerate. He explained that he eventually revived the long-shelved script by weaving the story of the struggling working-class family together with that of a wealthier couple, reflecting on how deeply capital now shapes people’s lives and how individuals might navigate that reality.
Netflix, which financed the film and holds its international rights, has confirmed Possible Love will receive an Oscar-qualifying theatrical release across several territories following its premieres at the Venice and Toronto film festivals. The film is set to premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival before screening in the Special Presentations section at the Toronto International Film Festival. It will then open in South Korean theatres on September 23, ahead of the Academy’s September 30 eligibility deadline, followed by a theatrical release in Australia on October 22, and in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland and Japan on October 23. The film will subsequently become available to stream globally on Netflix from November 6. Reports also indicate that Netflix intends to campaign for the film beyond the international feature category, including a push for Best Picture consideration.
Lee’s history with the Academy Awards stretches back several submissions. His acclaimed 2018 film Burning, which won the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes, became the first Korean film to be shortlisted in the international feature category, though it ultimately missed the final five nominees. South Korea has also previously submitted his earlier films Oasis in 2003 and Secret Sunshine in 2008. The country has entered films in the Oscars’ international category since 1962, going decades without a nomination until Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite made history in 2020 as the first non-English-language film to win both Best International Feature and Best Picture. Park Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave in 2022 and No Other Choice in 2025 also reached the category’s shortlist without securing nominations.
The 99th Academy Awards are scheduled to take place on March 14, 2027, with Possible Love now positioned as one of the season’s most closely watched international contenders following Lee’s long-anticipated return to feature filmmaking.
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