Poetic Justice: The deeply shuttering cinema of Lee Chang-dong
In celebration of the great filmmaking return of the year, that of Lee Chang-dong, the 32nd AIFF, powered by HFAC (Hellenic Film and Audiovisual Center), with DEI as its gold sponsor and co-organized with OPANDA (City of Athens Culture, Sports & Youth Organization) presents for the first time in Greece a full retrospective to one of the most significant and elusive auteurs of contemporary cinema.
32nd ATHENS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
September 30 – October 11
“Some films make us see the world differently, while some make us see only what we want to see” Lee Chang-dong
Apart from the multi-awarded South Korean director’s entire body of work, the 32nd edition of the AIFF will screen for the first time in Greece his latest, highly anticipated work: “Possible Love” won the Grand Jury Prize in the Venice Film Festival and it became the official selection of South Korea for the 2027 Oscars. Our audience will enjoy the opportunity to see it for the first and only time on a large screen, before its regular screening on Netflix.
Lee Chang-dong, a writer before turning to directing, has delivered only seven feature films in a period of three decades. Still, the universal acclaim for his work and the reputation he enjoys are remarkable, perhaps because in his small but precious filmography he has managed an incisive (and often shattering) anatomy of the multiple inequalities of the modern world: the dark alleys of desire, the collision of reality with illusion, the constant class tensions within modern societies and, above all, the persistent search for truth and beauty lingering in the harsh identity of human existence.
It is precisely this paradox, the beauty born out of anguish, that permeates Lee Chang-dong’s entire work. From “Peppermint Candy” to “Secret Sunshine”, and from the masterwork of “Poetry” to the artistic triumph of “Burning”, that premiered in the 24th AIFF, his films do not lend themselves to easy interpretations, nor are they exhausted in the duration of one screening. They formulate an experience that slides peacefully in the audience’s mind and progressively ascend towards their true philosophical and emotional dimensions hours or even days after experiencing them.
For all these reasons, but more because Lee Chang-dong’s return after his long absence constitutes an absolute cinema event, the 32nd AIFF feels an extraordinary joy to present his entire oeuvre, a work of rare, forceful depth, one that reminds us what authentic artistic filmmaking is.
THE FILMS OF THE TRIBUTE
GREEN FISH | CHOROK MULGOGI (1997, 115’)
PEPPERMINT CANDY | BAKHASATANG (1999, 129’)
OASIS | OASISEU (2002, 133’)
SECRET SUNSHINE | MIRYANG (2007, 145’)
POETRY | SI (2010, 139’)
BURNING | BEONING (2018, 148’)
#aiff32
The 32nd Athens International Film Festival will take place from September 30th to October 11th 2026, powered by HFAC (Hellenic Film and Audiovisual Center), with DEI as its gold sponsor and in co-organization with OPANDA (City of Athens Culture, Sports & Youth Organization).
The PRESS CONFERENCE of the 32nd edition will take place at 18:00, Tuesday, September 22nd 2026, at the Auditorium Theo Angelopoulos of the French Institute in Greece.
