The Films of Lee Chang-dong

The Doris Duke Theatre presents five films by South Korean director Lee Chang-dong throughout September. See new 4K restorations of his first three features—Green Fish (1997), Peppermint Candy (1999) and Oasis (2002)—plus a restoration of his beautiful 2010 film Poetry and 2007’s Secret Sunshine.  
 
Lee Chang-dong is one of the most admired auteurs in cinema. He began a career in theater in his twenties and then became a celebrated novelist. He made his debut as a film director with Green Fish, a one-of-a-kind Korean film noir. He continued his exploration of life and the cinema, and earned critical acclaim and popular success with Peppermint Candy, in which he experimented with a narrative using flashbacks, and Oasis, in which he questioned the nature of true communication between people.  Oasis earned Lee Chang-dong and lead actress Moon So-ri awards for Best Director and Best New Actress at the Venice Film Festival. In 2003, he was appointed South Korea’s Minister of Culture and Tourism. When he was relieved from this official position, he directed his fourth film, Secret Sunshine. The superb performance by Jean Do-yeon as the tormented Shin-ae in Secret Sunshine earned her the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007. His fifth film, Poetry won the best screenplay award from the 63rd Cannes Film Festival. In 2018, Lee Chang-dong released the lauded psycho-thriller Burning, which premiered in competition at Cannes where it won the FIPRESCI Prize.