Lee Chang-dong

Award won Role or nomination

1. 1954 age 0

   Born

2. 2002 age 48

   CreditOasisdirector

   CreditOasisscreenwriter

3. 2007 age 53

   CreditSecret Sunshinedirector

   CreditSecret Sunshinescreenwriter

4. 2010 age 56

   CreditPoetrydirector

   CreditPoetryscreenwriter

5. 2018 age 64

   CreditBurningdirector

   CreditBurningproducer

   CreditBurningscreenwriter

6. 2026 age 72

   CreditPossible Lovedirector

• JDJeon Do-yeon2 titles
• SKSul Kyung-gu2 titles
• SYSteven Yeun1 title
• SKSong Kang-ho1 title
• CYCho Yeo-jeong1 title
• HKHong Kyung-pyo1 title
• YAYoo Ah-in1 title
• KMKim Mi-kyung1 title
• MOMowg1 title
• KSKo Seo-hui1 title

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  Photo:Harald KrichelCC BY-SA 4.0

• Literature is different from cinema in that, when I’m writing it, I’m thinking of one reader who will go through a range of emotions with me, whereas with film I’m addressing a larger audience. For me, writing fiction is like writing love letters.

  Lee Chang-dong, CC BY-SA 4.0

• To me it seems that films these days are becoming more and more simple, and the audience seems to desire simpler stories. Of course, films sort of shape the desires and the demands the audience makes, so I kind of wanted to go against this trend and see if a film can sort of throw endless questions at the audience. Endless questions about a larger mysterious world.

  Lee Chang-dong, CC BY-SA 4.0

• To me, it seems that the world we live in continues to become more and more sophisticated, convenient and cool on the outside, but there are so many problems underneath that we can’t really discern — and that’s the nature of this post-modern world and its problems.

  Lee Chang-dong, CC BY-SA 4.0

• To be honest, it’s very difficult to explain what stories I see fit to become a film or not. I have several people I regularly work with — producers, actors, crew members — and it’s always very difficult to explain why this story can or can’t be a film. It often puts me in trouble, as well. I can find it hard to explain myself. Whether the story is fun or moving or might receive good reviews is honestly not that important to me. It’s a very intuitive feeling that I have — mainly about whether the story is worth reaching out to the audience to communicate with them at this point in time. Is the story worth the effort of bringing it to the audience? It’s sort of a very sensitive and intuitive decision-making process that happens within me.

  Lee Chang-dong, CC BY-SA 4.0

• When I used to write novels, I always wrote for one person, for this person who thought and felt the same way as I do. It almost felt like I was writing a love letter to this very specific person who would understand what I’m writing and share the same feelings and thoughts.

  Lee Chang-dong, CC BY-SA 4.0

• Poems are about things and occurrences that we don’t see visually, it’s the needing of beauty and meaning, that’s what poetry can be. In a natural way there are many stories that interweave throughout the film, and the film’s big scene is not just about the tragic event, but it also meets with what poetry is about, they interweave together.

  Lee Chang-dong, CC BY-SA 4.0