A hesitant, complex relationship develops between two married couples when a wealthy, well-meaning pair (Zo-in Sung, Cho Yeo-jeong)—the wife is a documentary filmmaker—befriends working-class partners (Sul Kyung-gu, Jeon Do-yeon), victims of brutal economic injustice. Possible Love is about many things: the sudden revelations of memory, the secrets and lies of even good marriages, the abyss separating the rich and the poor. All four actors are superb with Jeon, who previously collaborated with writer-director Lee Chang-dong on Secret Sunshine (2007), particularly radiant. Lee has an uncanny and poetic sense of the cruelty lurking in all his characters and the extraordinary moments of illumination that occur in the lives of everyday people. The balance he achieves between optimism and pessimism, desperation and love is so subtly and dispassionately realized that it makes you believe there is such a thing as wisdom. —Larry Gross

LEE CHANG-DONG is a celebrated South Korean filmmaker and novelist whose work has earned him a reputation as one of world cinema's most exacting humanists. His films include Green Fish (1997), Peppermint Candy (1999), Oasis (2002, Silver Lion for Best Director, Venice), Secret Sunshine (2007), Poetry (2010, Best Screenplay, Cannes), and Burning (2018), which became the first Korean film to be shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Before turning to film, Lee was an acclaimed novelist, and he later served briefly as South Korea's Minister of Culture and Tourism between films. With Possible Love, his first feature since Burning, Lee returns to the themes of longing, class, and quiet devastation that have defined his career. The Festival is proud to present Possible Love (along with a retrospective screening of Poetry) and to shine a spotlight on his extraordinary career by presenting him with an MVFF Auteur Award. One of contemporary cinema's most distinctive voices, his work continues to redefine what emotional storytelling can do on screen.