[Dispatch | Busan=Reporter Yuha Sky] "Do I truly have the right to tell the stories of workers?" (Director Lee Chang-dong)

The film "A Possible Love" won the Silver Lion for Outstanding Achievement in Direction (Jury Prize) in the competition section at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival. Following the world premiere screening, there was approximately seven minutes of standing ovation.

This is a new work from Director Lee Chang-dong, released eight years after "Burning." However, the film nearly did not make it into the world. The director stopped in front of a question he had posed to himself and even abandoned production.

A suggestion from writer Lee Jung-mi became a new clue. It was a way of newly adding the story of a documentary director. The perspective shifted from others' suffering to the filmmaker's own problem of how he gazes upon that suffering.

"Only then did I think it could become my own story, not the suffering of others. I wanted to tell a story that was honest to myself. After a long time had passed, I began again." (Director Lee)

The "A Possible Love" team held an open talk on the outdoor stage of the Busan Cinema Center in Haeundae-gu, Busan on the 7th. Director Lee Chang-dong and actors Jeon Do-yeon, Seol Kyung-gu, Jo In-sung, and Jo Yeo-jung attended.

The atmosphere on site was unprecedented. The outdoor stage seating was filled with audiences who had gathered early. As the actors took the stage, cheers and applause erupted throughout the venue.

"A Possible Love" is the story of a couple of laid-off workers and a couple of documentary filmmakers. The two couples meet through the production of a documentary. They face their different lives and the wounds and desires hidden within them.

The film begins some ten years in the past. At that time, while witnessing large corporation restructuring, strikes by laid-off workers, and the process of their suppression, he first conceived the story.

Director Lee said, "Rather than the layoff itself, what was greater was the despair of 'the nation is not on our side' from that process. It was an era when market profitability became more important than workers' rights," and recalled, "A deep divide emerged—so much so that laid-off people and those who remained could be divided into 'the dead' and 'the living.'"

Seol Kyung-gu plays Ho-seok, a laid-off worker. He has long been suffering from aftereffects from what he experienced at the general strike and forced crackdown. He meets documentary director Yeji (played by Jo Yeo-jung) and faces his wounds anew.

To understand Ho-seok, Seol Kyung-gu first thought about his body. He focused on showing the passage of time accumulated in a worker's body as much as in dialogue.

He said, "When the director asked me 'What kind of person is Ho-seok?', I answered 'He's like me,'" and explained, "I thought he was a character symbolizing universal masculinity. I began from 'what if it were me.'"

Jeon Do-yeon played Mi-ok, Ho-seok's wife. Working at a mask factory, she has endured the wounds left by the general strike on her family. Even amid anxiety, she tries to protect her own life and family.

Jeon Do-yeon said, "Mi-ok shares some similarities with me. In fact, everyone lives with some degree of anxiety, large or small," and added, "What I empathized with most was that this anxiety stems from love for protecting family and husband."

Jo Yeo-jung played documentary director Yeji. She captures the lives of laid-off workers on camera. Through the process of growing closer to Ho-seok and Mi-ok, she confronts how she herself gazes upon others.

Jo Yeo-jung said, "The character itself was difficult and burdensome," and explained, "When I first read the script, I thought I should exist like a shadow as a documentary director. I tried to only look at Mi-ok and Ho-seok's eyes."

Jo In-sung appears as Sang-woo, Yeji's husband. Having grown up in a wealthy environment, he married Yeji despite his family's opposition. He begins to fit in with the Ho-seok and Mi-ok couple, following his wife.

Jo In-sung pointed out, "A person raised in a wealthy household made the choice to possibly lose what he has for marriage. I thought of him as someone who in that very act fought against power."

The key theme that runs through "A Possible Love" is 'gaze.' Director Lee explained, "A camera is a gaze. To hold a camera means to look at someone," and added, "The act of looking itself carries power. A relationship is created between the one looking and the one being looked at."

The relationship between the two couples in the film also moves upon that gaze. Director Lee said, "We form countless relationships in life. In the end, they are all relationships of one person looking at another," and stated, "I wanted us to think together about the power and attitude that arise from such relationships."

The actors vividly portrayed the relationship of looking and being looked at. Director Lee Chang-dong described the meeting of the four actors as a 'necessary ensemble.' Jeon Do-yeon and Seol Kyung-gu were actors he had in mind from the very beginning of the work's conception.

There was also reason for Jo Yeo-jung and Jo In-sung. Director Lee said, "Yeji is a director with strong self-awareness who ponders 'how can I love these people?' There was no actor more fitting than Jo Yeo-jung," and added, "Jo In-sung is an actor with invisible power and presence. I believed only Jo In-sung could express Sang-woo, who appears gentle but is anything but."

Finally, Director Lee emphasized the weight of the work once more.

He said, "'A Possible Love' is not a film that prioritizes entertainment. I worry that today's open talk might feel like a conversation we're having after making a fun film," and added, "Thank you for being here with us. I hope this has been of some help in appreciating the film."

Seol Kyung-gu expressed confidence, saying, "The two hours and 44 minutes (runtime) pass in an instant. Not a single moment is tedious." Jeon Do-yeon said, "I was delighted to share the backstory of the film with you here at the Busan International Film Festival. I urge you to also watch it on Netflix as a keepsake."

Jo In-sung had the final word. Addressing Director Lee, he said with emphasis, "Whether I appear in it or not, I hope you will meet audiences through another work," and stressed, "We have the right to see Director Lee Chang-dong's films." Warm applause poured from the audience.

Meanwhile, the 31st Busan International Film Festival runs through the 15th around the Busan Cinema Center.

<Photo=Reporter Song Hyo-jin>