Korean director Lee Chang-dong's "Possible Love," which took top honors at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month, has been added to the lineup of AFI Fest 2026, the American Film Institute announced Tuesday. The drama, which opened in theaters on September 23, will screen as part of the Los Angeles festival's international showcase, giving West Coast audiences their first theatrical look at a film that has been building feverish word of mouth since its Lido premiere.

AFI Fest is set to run in November at the TCL Chinese Theatre and other Hollywood venues, though the institute has not yet confirmed the full slate or exact screening dates for "Possible Love." The selection marks another major festival berth for Lee, a filmmaker whose cerebral, slowly burning dramas have long been a fixture on the global circuit.

A Career-Defining Ensemble Reunites

"Possible Love" brings Lee back together with two of Korean cinema's most celebrated performers, Jeon Do-yeon and Sul Kyung-gu, both of whom have done some of their finest work under his direction. Jeon plays Ahn Mi-ok, while Sul portrays her husband, Choi Ho-seok.

The story follows the couple, struggling after Ho-seok loses his job, as their lives intersect with a documentary filmmaker and her husband. What begins as an ordinary encounter gradually forces both couples to reckon with desires they have kept buried. Zo In-sung and Cho Yeo-jeong round out the principal cast as the filmmaker and her spouse, with supporting turns from Jeong Seop, Jo Yuri, Choi Min and Kang Gil-woo.

At 165 minutes, the film is among Lee's longest, a runtime that has become a talking point among critics who note that the director uses the extended duration to let tensions accumulate rather than resolve quickly.

Venice Victory Sets the Stage

"Possible Love" premiered at Venice to strong notices, and its top prize instantly positioned it as one of the fall's most anticipated art-house releases. The win also cements Lee's standing as one of the most consistently awarded filmmakers working today, following previous festival triumphs including "Burning" and "Poetry."

Audiences appear to be responding with unusual intensity. The film currently holds a 9 out of 10 rating on TMDb, a remarkably high figure for a slow-burn drama with no franchise hooks and a nearly three-hour running time. That score, while drawn from a self-selecting pool of early viewers, suggests the Venice jury was not alone in its enthusiasm.

A Crowded Awards Season Takes Shape

The AFI Fest slot arrives at a strategic moment. With the film already in theaters since late September, its festival run gives it a second wave of visibility as critics' groups and industry guilds begin weighing their year-end picks. For a foreign-language drama, a prominent platform in Los Angeles carries particular weight, putting the film in front of the voters and tastemakers who shape the American awards conversation.

AFI Fest has historically served as a launching pad for international titles seeking U.S. distribution and awards traction. A high-profile screening there can translate directly into expanded theatrical bookings and sustained media coverage through the winter.

Lee's Signature Terrain

Those familiar with Lee's filmography will recognize the territory: ordinary people whose lives are quietly destabilized by encounters that expose what they would rather not see. "Possible Love" appears to extend that preoccupation, using the collision between two marriages to examine class, aspiration and private longing.

The choice of a documentary filmmaker as one of the central characters adds a layer of self-scrutiny to the premise, raising questions about who gets to observe whom and what the camera can and cannot capture. Whether that meta dimension lands with American audiences remains to be seen, but the ingredients are characteristic of a director who has never been interested in easy resolutions.

What Comes Next

Beyond the AFI Fest screening, no further U.S. dates have been announced. Distributors are expected to use the festival as a springboard for a wider rollout, though details remain unconfirmed.

For now, "Possible Love" stands as one of the year's most decorated imports before it has even reached most American cities, and its addition to AFI Fest all but guarantees it will remain part of the conversation well into awards season.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter