First Korean filmmaker to receive the award — a North American honor following TIFF’s Ebert Director Award, with Possible Love invited to the festival’s Spotlight program.

Poster for Possible Love <Netflix>

Lee Chang-dong has been selected as the recipient of the Auteur Award at the 49th Mill Valley Film Festival. He is the first Korean filmmaker to receive the honor. In announcing the selection on September 3, Netflix also revealed that Lee's new feature, Possible Love, has been invited to the festival's Spotlight program.

Launched in 1977 and organized by the California Film Institute, the Mill Valley Film Festival is held each October in Mill Valley, California. Its programming centers on independent films, art-house cinema, and documentaries. The Auteur Award recognizes a filmmaker's sustained creative vision and achievements in cinema, while Spotlight is a program that introduces new work by artists who have built a distinctive body of work.

Two Couples Drawn Together by a Documentary Shoot

Possible Love follows two married couples whose lives become entangled through a documentary shoot. Ho-seok, a laid-off worker, and his wife Mi-ok, along with documentary filmmaker Ye-ji and her husband Sang-woo, come to confront the circumstances of each other's lives — and desires they had kept hidden — over the course of the filming. Sul Kyung-gu plays Ho-seok and Jeon Do-yeon plays Mi-ok, with Cho Yeo-jeong and Zo In-sung as Ye-ji and Sang-woo respectively. The screenplay is co-credited to Lee Chang-dong and writer Oh Jung-mi.

A North American Honor Following TIFF's Ebert Director Award

Possible Love is Lee Chang-dong's first feature in eight years, following Burning. Lee was also named the recipient of the TIFF Ebert Director Award, presented at the 51st Toronto International Film Festival's Tribute Awards.

Possible Love competed in the main competition of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival and has been invited to festivals including New York and Toronto, as well as Vancouver, Zurich, and San Sebastián. It has also been selected as Korea's submission in the International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards.

Possible Love opens at select theaters in Korea on September 23 before its Netflix release on November 6. Attention now turns to how the film will be received as its North American festival screenings approach.

Sources

• The Dong-A Ilbo, “Possible Love Director Lee Chang-dong, First Korean to Win Auteur Award at U.S. Mill Valley Film Festival,” 2026.09.03

• Etoday, “Possible Love Director Lee Chang-dong Wins Auteur Award at Mill Valley Film Festival, a First for a Korean,” 2026.09.03

• The Kyunghyang Shinmun, “Director Lee Chang-dong, First Korean Honored at U.S. Mill Valley Film Festival,” 2026.09.03

• Segye Ilbo, “Director Lee Chang-dong, First Korean Honored at U.S. Mill Valley Film Festival,” 2026.09.03