Lee Chang-dong

Directing

Lee Chang-dong

Born 1954-04-01 · Daegu, South Korea

Lee Chang-dong (born July 4, 1954) is a South Korean film director, screenwriter and novelist. He won the 2008 Special Director's Prize at the Asian Film Awards and has been nominated for the Golden Lion and Palme d'Or. Lee served as the minister of Culture and Tourism in the South Korean Government from 2003 to 2004. Description above from the Wikipedia article Lee Chang-dong, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

Mr. Kim Goes to the Cinema poster
10.0

After the COVID-19 pandemic, Busan International Film Festival founder Kim Dong-ho, at eighty-five, picks up a camcorder for the first time and decides to make a documentary. His lens turns toward cinemas struggling through the crisis, as beloved theaters vanish amid dwindling audiences. Seeking to reconnect with old friends, "Mr. Kim" — now nearing ninety — travels the world to talk with filmmakers and cinephiles. Through these encounters, he reflects on cinema’s past and future, finding wisdom and resilience in a time of transformation. His journey becomes a meditation on change, memory, and the enduring spirit of film.

Mr. Kim Goes to the Cinema

2026

Tony Rayns, the Not-So-Distant Observer poster
8.0

Prominent film critic Tony Rayns has long been a supporter of Korean cinema. This film illustrates Rayns’ affection for Korean cinema through interviews of Korean cineastes that have a special affinity for him, including JANG Sun-woo, LEE Chang-dong and HONG Sang-soo among others.

Tony Rayns, the Not-So-Distant Observer

2012

Lee Chang-dong: The Art of Irony poster
7.5

A portrait of the South Korean screenwriter, director and producer Lee Chang-Dong through his work, this documentary provides a thematic analysis of his films, most of which have been selected for and received awards at the Cannes Film Festival.

Lee Chang-dong: The Art of Irony

2023

Ari Ari the Korean Cinema poster
5.5

Director Chung Ji-Young criticizes the thought that older directors have difficulties in making certain movies. Actress Yoon Jin-Seo agonizes over her identity as an actress. In 2009, before the movie "Unbowed" was made, they met and planned a documentary about Korean movies, including the processes a Korean movie goes through and difficulites. "Ari Ari the Korean Cinema" is a documentary with interviews of Korean directors, actors and actresses.

Ari Ari the Korean Cinema

2012

Through Korean Cinema poster
NR

Discover the roots of Korean cinema. A cinema who surprised by the success recorded in the major international festivals. Interviews to five famous Korean directors, to get to know closely the evolution of Korean cinema. Through their words, their pictures and their stories. The Korean cinema has tendency to describe both the society, the past and the modern. The world of west cinema knows these directors through the journey of some of their movies. What do we know about their thoughts, their life, their culture and their way of working? The documentary focus on it.

Through Korean Cinema

2010

No artwork available
6.0

South Korean cinema is in the throes of a creative explosion where mavericks are encouraged and masters are venerated. But from where has this phenomenon emerged? What is the culture that has yielded this range of filmmakers? With The Nine Lives of Korean Cinema, French critic, writer and documentarian Hubert Niogret provides a broad overview but, nevertheless, an excellent entry point into this unique type of national cinema that still remains a mystery for many people. The product of a troubled social and political history, Korean cinema sports an identity that is unique in much modern film. Niogret's documentary tells of the country's cinematic history - the ups along with the downs - and gives further voice to the artists striving to express their concerns, fears and aspirations.

The Nine Lives of Korean Cinema

2005

Walking in the Movies poster
10.0

KIM Dong-ho is the founder of the Busan International Film Festival and one of the key figures in the rise of Korean cinema. Starting his career as a civil servant, he dedicated his whole life to the sheer passion for films. With his deep commitment and instinctive creativity, he will keep “walking in the movies.”

Walking in the Movies

2024

Behind the camera

Possible Love poster
NR

A laid-off worker and his wife cross paths with a documentary filmmaker and her spouse and confront their hidden desires.

Possible Love

2026

Possible Love poster
NR

A laid-off worker and his wife cross paths with a documentary filmmaker and her spouse and confront their hidden desires.

Possible Love

2026

Possible Love poster
NR

A laid-off worker and his wife cross paths with a documentary filmmaker and her spouse and confront their hidden desires.

Possible Love

2026

Burning poster
7.4

Deliveryman Jong-su is out on a job when he runs into Hae-mi, a girl who once lived in his neighborhood. She asks if he'd mind looking after her cat while she's away on a trip to Africa. On her return, she introduces to Jong-su an enigmatic young man named Ben, who she met during her trip. One day Ben tells Jong-su about his most unusual hobby.

Burning

2018

Burning poster
7.4

Deliveryman Jong-su is out on a job when he runs into Hae-mi, a girl who once lived in his neighborhood. She asks if he'd mind looking after her cat while she's away on a trip to Africa. On her return, she introduces to Jong-su an enigmatic young man named Ben, who she met during her trip. One day Ben tells Jong-su about his most unusual hobby.

Burning

2018

Poetry poster
7.6

A South Korean woman in her sixties enrolls in a poetry class as she grapples with her faltering memory and her grandson's appalling wrongdoing.

Poetry

2010

Poetry poster
7.6

A South Korean woman in her sixties enrolls in a poetry class as she grapples with her faltering memory and her grandson's appalling wrongdoing.

Poetry

2010

Secret Sunshine poster
7.2

Shin-ae moves to her recently late husband’s hometown. Despite her efforts to settle in this unfamiliar and too-normal place, she finds that she can’t fit in. After a sudden tragedy, Shin-ae turns to Christianity to relieve her pain, but when even this is not permitted, she wages a war against God.

Secret Sunshine

2007

Secret Sunshine poster
7.2

Shin-ae moves to her recently late husband’s hometown. Despite her efforts to settle in this unfamiliar and too-normal place, she finds that she can’t fit in. After a sudden tragedy, Shin-ae turns to Christianity to relieve her pain, but when even this is not permitted, she wages a war against God.

Secret Sunshine

2007

Peppermint Candy poster
7.5

In the spring of 1999, a group of old friends gather to celebrate their 20 year reunion. Among the group is Yeong-ho, a cold, unhappy man, whose demeanor puts a damper on the festivities. The seriousness of Yeong-ho's depression becomes apparent when he climbs a railroad bridge and looks like he might jump. At this crucial moment, memories of seven crucial episodes from Yeong-ho's past flood his mind.

Peppermint Candy

2000

Peppermint Candy poster
7.5

In the spring of 1999, a group of old friends gather to celebrate their 20 year reunion. Among the group is Yeong-ho, a cold, unhappy man, whose demeanor puts a damper on the festivities. The seriousness of Yeong-ho's depression becomes apparent when he climbs a railroad bridge and looks like he might jump. At this crucial moment, memories of seven crucial episodes from Yeong-ho's past flood his mind.

Peppermint Candy

2000

A Girl at My Door poster
6.9

Sent from Seoul to serve in a remote coastal village, a policewoman gets involved in the life of a mysterious teenage girl who is abused by both her father and her grandmother.

A Girl at My Door

2014

Oasis poster
7.7

A young man released from prison visits the widow of the man he killed drunk-driving and becomes infatuated with his cerebral palsy-stricken daughter.

Oasis

2002

Oasis poster
7.7

A young man released from prison visits the widow of the man he killed drunk-driving and becomes infatuated with his cerebral palsy-stricken daughter.

Oasis

2002

Green Fish poster
6.9

Returning home and finding his town drastically changed, a former soldier falls in with gangsters.

Green Fish

1997

Green Fish poster
6.9

Returning home and finding his town drastically changed, a former soldier falls in with gangsters.

Green Fish

1997

Never Forever poster
6.6

When an American woman begins a dangerous relationship with an attractive immigrant worker, in order to save her marriage, she finds her true self.

Never Forever

2007

A Single Spark poster
7.1

Activist and law school graduate Kim is being persecuted by the mid-’70s Park regime for trying to write a book about Jeon Tae-il, a union activist who immolated himself at age 22 to protest government hypocrisy.

A Single Spark

1995

The World of Us poster
7.5

A bullied girl becomes friends with a new kid during a break, but when classes start up again, their new friendship is nearly ruined when the bullying continues.

The World of Us

2016

A Brand New Life poster
7.3

Abandoned by her father, a girl adjusts to life in an orphanage.

A Brand New Life

2009

A Brand New Life poster
7.3

Abandoned by her father, a girl adjusts to life in an orphanage.

A Brand New Life

2009

To the Starry Island poster
7.2

Two men have returned to their hometown (the titular island) from Seoul to bury the father of one of them, but the islanders vehemently refuse their request, triggering memories of their childhood before and during the Korean War.

To the Starry Island

1993

Heartbeat poster
NR

Caught up in anxiety, eight-year-old Chul in school tells his teacher that he is going to the bathroom but runs straight home.

Heartbeat

2022

Heartbeat poster
NR

Caught up in anxiety, eight-year-old Chul in school tells his teacher that he is going to the bathroom but runs straight home.

Heartbeat

2022