POETRY | 시

SOUTH KOREA, FRANCE | 2010 | COLOR | DCP | 139’ | KOREAN

As her words gradually begin to desert her, a kind-hearted elderly woman in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease decides to enroll in a poetry seminar, seeking meaning and a kind of beauty in the world around her. However, when she discovers that her teenage grandson is implicated in a heinous crime, she is faced with an unbearable moral dilemma. Lee Chang-dong delivers one of the finest films in the history of Asian cinema, contrasting the moral decay of society with the heroine’s agonizing struggle to come to terms with overwhelming guilt and seek true atonement. With the support of the great Yoon Jeong-hee in the final role of her career, the film culminates in one of the most beautiful and quietly harrowing finales in contemporary cinema. Winner of Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival. Thodoris Karamanolis

DIRECTOR: Lee Chang-dong
SCREENWRITER: Lee Chang-dong
DoP: Kim Hyun-seok
EDITOR: Hyun Kim
PRINCIPAL CAST: Yoon Jeong-hee, Lee David, Kim Hee-ra, Ahn Nae-sang, Kim Yongtaek, Park Myeong-sin, Jang Hye-jin, Kim Hye-jung

LEE CHANG-DONG

Acclaimed South Korean film director, screenwriter and novelist. Born in Daegu in 1954, he began his artistic career in theater and literature. He transitioned to filmmaking in his early forties, quickly establishing himself as a defining figure of Korean Cinema. He also served as South Korea’s Minister of Culture and Tourism from 2003 to 2004. His celebrated filmography is characterized by profound humanism, complex characters, and descriptions of societal trauma. His work frequently explores themes of grief, alienation and redemption.

FILMOGRAPHY
2026 Possible Love
2018 Burning
2010 Poetry
2007 Secret Sunshine
2002 Oasis
1999 Peppermint Candy
1997 Green Fish