President Lee Jae-myung has congratulated Director Lee Chang-dong on winning the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival.

President Lee shared the news on his X account this morning, writing, "Director Lee's 'Possible Love' has won the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival."

Director Lee Chang-dong received the Grand Jury Prize, considered the second-highest honor, for his new film "Possible Love" at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, which concluded on the afternoon of September 12 on the Lido of Venice, Italy. This marks the first time a South Korean film has won the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival.

President Lee wrote, "When I met the director and the actors at the recent Lumiere Summit, I heard firsthand about the enthusiastic local interest in the work. I am even more delighted that the expectations from back then have borne such good fruit."

He added, "I hope this award serves as an opportunity to further broaden the diversity of our cinema and allow more great works to meet global audiences."

He also added, "I extend my sincere congratulations once again to Director Lee and all the cast and crew. I will continue to cheer on the brilliant journey of Korean cinema."

President Lee Jae-myung previously met with Director Lee Chang-dong, Sul Kyung-gu, Jeon Do-yeon, and others at the Lumiere Summit held in Saint-Paul-de-Vence on September 7 during his state visit to France. At the time, the "Possible Love" team had traveled to France to meet with the President while staying on the Venice Lido to attend the Venice International Film Festival. During this gathering, Director Lee Chang-dong and the actors conveyed difficulties faced by the film industry, and President Lee promised continued government support.

Following that schedule, Director Lee Chang-dong returned to Venice and delivered good news to the South Korean film industry about a week later.

"Possible Love" is Director Lee Chang-dong's first new film in eight years, following works like "Secret Sunshine", "Poetry", and "Burning". It tells the story of two couples—a laid-off worker and his wife, and a documentary director and her husband—who meet to produce a documentary and confront their different lives and hidden desires. Distributed as a Netflix film, the work will have a preview release in theaters on September 23 before being released worldwide via Netflix on November 6.

(SBS Entertainment News | Kim Ji-hye)