Now is the Age of Culture (文話) The Age of Dopamine, the Question of 'Film's Reason for Existence' Raised by Lee Chang-dong

Director Lee Chang-dong's new film 'Possible Love' has won the Silver Lion Award (Jury Prize) at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival. It marks a major achievement exactly 24 years after the director won the Best Director award for 'Oasis' in 2002.

Among the world's three major film festivals, the Venice Film Festival, with its longest history, is not merely a place to celebrate commercial success. It is the competition that most sharply verifies the aesthetic experimentation of the era and the artistic dignity inherent in the medium of cinema. The fact that Lee Chang-dong's work won the Jury Prize there confirms once again the unique position that the name Lee Chang-dong holds in world film history.

At the closing ceremony of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival held on September 12 (local time) at the Palazzo del Cinema on the Lido, Venice, Italy, the remarks left by the director were more composed than joyful, and pained more than glittering.

“We live in an age where the meaning of labor has faded and human relationships are increasingly severed. I made this film to ask what cinema can do and what it must do in this age. I accept this award as affirmation that I should continue to pose such questions.”

The Age of Dopamine, Questioning 'Cinema's Reason for Existence'

This remark transcends mere humility or ritual gratitude. In an era where algorithms and short-form content inundate us with stimulation, it is a master filmmaker's declaration not to reduce cinema to mere 'time-consuming content,' and the ethical commitment of a creator not to turn a blind eye to the tragedy of our times—where labor is marginalized and communication with others is severed under the pressure of capital and efficiency. The Silver Lion Award is defined not as praise for a completed work, but as a call to continue posing uncomfortable yet necessary questions to our age.

A Master Filmmaker Driven to OTT Capital: A Bitter Portrait of Korean Cinema

Behind this weighty theme lies a bitter aspect of the Korean film industry. Even a master filmmaker representing Korean cinema has struggled to secure production budgets in the domestic investment environment, forcing him to abandon 'theatrical cinema' and rely on global OTT capital—a harsh reality of today's film industry. Amid the crisis of theaters and investment drought, it starkly reveals the limitations of Korean film capital in embracing artistic challenges and the attempts of master filmmakers, leaving them stranded.

Paradoxically, 'Possible Love,' born through streaming capital, deals with the encounter between two couples—a laid-off worker couple and a documentary filmmaker couple—as they face their different lives and hidden desires. The reason the Venice critics awarded this work both the Jury Prize and the International Federation of Film Critics Award (FIPRESCI) for its exploration of the question "Can we truly understand others through broken relationships?" is clear. Regardless of the source of capital, the work itself has proven the legitimacy of why cinema as a medium must exist.

Reasons to Gather Before the Screen Once More

Recently, the Korean film industry stands at a cruel crossroads of declining audiences and production contraction. In a reality where investment drought forces even master filmmakers to turn to streaming platforms, this director's award transcends a mere matter of national prestige. It is the entire Korean film industry's response to the question "Why must we still gather before the screen and watch cinema despite all this?" and a recovery of pride.

Lee Chang-dong, who 24 years ago imprinted the presence of Korean cinema on the world, now poses again at the same venue the question of cinema's survival and essence. To the resonance of his words, "I will continue to endlessly question what cinema can do," it is now our turn to contemplate an answer.