Archive · 17 Sep 2026
Possible Love Explores Identity, Labor, and Disappearing Work
Possible Love is a South Korean movie chosen for an Oscar category.
The movie is connected to director Lee Chang-dong’s concerns about workers losing their jobs.
Nearly eight years ago, he learned about mass layoffs at a Korean car company.
The layoffs led to a strike and a government crackdown.
Lee thought the event could change Korea’s labor movement and industry.
He wanted to show how technology and class differences can make work disappear.
He began writing and preparing the movie.
Later, he wondered whether he was the right person to tell this story, so production stopped for a time.
Possible Love has been selected as South Korea’s entry for Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards.
Lee Chang-dong was shaken by a mass layoff at a Korean car company nearly eight years ago.
The layoffs were followed by a workers’ strike and a crackdown by authorities.
He initially planned a film about disappearing labor, technological change, and class divisions.
Lee paused production after questioning whether he was the right person to tell the story.
- Who
- South Korean director Lee Chang-dong and the film Possible Love.
- What
- Possible Love was selected as South Korea’s entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards.
- When
- The film’s subject originated nearly eight years ago; the article does not specify when the selection was announced.
- Where
- South Korea, including a Korean car company affected by mass layoffs.
- Why
- Lee Chang-dong wanted to examine disappearing labor, technological change, class divisions, and a possible transformation of Korea’s labor movement and industrial structure.
- Film
- Possible Love
- Director
- Lee Chang-dong
- Oscar category
- Best International Feature Film
- Awards ceremony
- 99th Academy Awards
- Earlier film
- Burning (2018), which was shortlisted for an Oscar
- Source event
- Mass layoffs at a Korean car company, followed by a workers’ strike and an authorities’ crackdown
- Central themes
- Disappearing labor, advancing technology, class divides, and loss of self