Lee Chang-dong’s Possible Love Heads to Netflix

Lee Chang-dong's first film since Burning, South Korea's Oscar entry, streams on Netflix from 6 November after a final trailer and a limited theatrical run.

By Casie Stewart October 25, 2026 4 min read

Photo: Netflix

Eight years after Burning, Lee Chang-dong is back, and most of the world will see his new film at home. Possible Love, the Korean director’s first feature since 2018, streams globally on Netflix from Friday 6 November, the company has confirmed. It follows a final trailer released on 20 October and an opening in select theatres on 23 October.

The film

According to Netflix, Possible Love follows two married couples whose lives become entangled. Jeon Do-yeon plays Mi-ok, who lives quietly with her laid-off husband, Ho-seok (Sul Kyung-gu), and their young son. A funeral brings them into contact with Ye-ji (Cho Yeo-jeong), a documentary filmmaker making a film about laid-off workers, and her husband, Sang-woo (Zo In-sung), a couple whose comfortable life sits in sharp contrast to their own. When Mi-ok agrees to be filmed, Netflix says, she grows close to Ye-ji and finds herself uneasily drawn to Sang-woo, and cracks begin to appear in both marriages.

Netflix Tudum lists the running time as two hours and 47 minutes, and the title page carries an R maturity rating.

The awards picture

Netflix says South Korea has selected Possible Love as its entry for best international feature film at the 99th Academy Awards. The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, according to Netflix, which also named the Toronto International Film Festival and the New York Film Festival among its autumn stops. Netflix’s trailer announcement leans on the film’s festival reception, quoting a run of critics’ notices.

A national selection is only the first step: the Academy’s shortlist and nominations come later, and a global release puts the film before voters and viewers well ahead of either.

Lee Chang-dong, where to start

Lee came to film from literature: the Cannes Film Festival‘s biography of the director notes that he published his first novel in 1983 and worked as a screenwriter and assistant director before making his own features. He also served as South Korea’s Minister of Culture and Tourism between Oasis and Secret Sunshine. The six features before Possible Love:

Green Fish (1997): his debut, about a young man returning from military service to a hometown he no longer recognizes.
Peppermint Candy (1999): his second feature, invited to the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes in 2000.
Oasis (2002): premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the directing prize and the Marcello Mastroianni award for its lead actress, per the Cannes biography.
Secret Sunshine (2007): in competition at Cannes, where Jeon Do-yeon, the lead of Possible Love, won best actress; a widowed piano teacher moves with her son to her late husband’s hometown.
Poetry (2010): in competition at Cannes, where it won the screenplay prize.
Burning (2018): in competition at Cannes, and his most recent film before Possible Love.

In the US and Canada, the Criterion Channel lists all six films in its Directed by Lee Chang-dong collection; Criterion says the service is available only in those two countries, and its catalogue rotates, so check before planning a marathon. A UK streaming home for the earlier films could not be confirmed on a platform’s own pages.

Why it matters

Lee works slowly: seven features in roughly three decades. For viewers outside the festival circuit, this is the rare case of an auteur’s new film reaching every Netflix market on the same day, with no wait for a local distributor.

South Korea’s entry joins a crowded international feature race: for how festival prizes now feed into it, see The Oscar Race Gets a Side Door, and for Canada’s submission, Canada’s Oscar Bet Is Nina Roza. Key dates for the whole season are in Awards Season 2026 to 2027, Dated.

Where to watch

Possible Love: Netflix, worldwide including Canada, the US, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, streaming from Friday 6 November
Possible Love: select theatres from 23 October, per Netflix; check local listings
Green Fish, Peppermint Candy, Oasis, Secret Sunshine, Poetry and Burning: Criterion Channel, Canada and the US, subject to its rotating catalogue