Lee Chang-dong's 'Possible Love' and Yeon Sang-ho's 'The Reckoning' invited to Toronto Film Festival

South Korean directors Lee Chang-dong and Yeon Sang-ho will present their latest films, 'Possible Love' and 'The Reckoning,' respectively, at the 51st Toronto International Film Festival in September. Both films received official invitations to the festival's prestigious Special Presentations section, a program that highlights new works from celebrated filmmakers.

Netflix, which produced 'Possible Love,' and CJ ENM, the investor and distributor of 'The Reckoning,' announced the invitations on June 21. The Toronto International Film Festival is considered one of the world's leading film events, often ranked alongside Cannes, Venice, and Berlin.

Lee Chang-dong's 'Possible Love,' his first film in eight years since 'Burning' (2019), stars Jeon Do-yeon and Sol Kyung-gu, and Jo In-sung and Jo Yeo-jeong as two couples. The film reportedly delves into hidden desires as a couple meets for a documentary project. Cameron Bailey, the festival's artistic director, described the film as a "powerful work that deeply explores marital relationships, class, and cinema itself," further cementing Lee's reputation as a "greatest filmmaker of our time."

Yeon Sang-ho's 'The Reckoning' centers on a mother's unease after her son, who went missing, returns after nine years. The thriller depicts the unsettling cohabitation between a mother, played by Kim Hyun-joo, and her son, portrayed by Bae Hyun-sung, as she finds solace in an AI program that resembles her lost child, only to grow anxious about the real son's changed demeanor. Yeon Sang-ho previously attended the Toronto festival last year with his film 'The First Face.'

Director Yeon described 'The Reckoning' as "the darkest story I have," a "desperate struggle of a mother who falls into a dark abyss between the child resurrected by AI and the real child who returned alive after nine years." Earlier, director Hur Jin-ho's 'The Assassins' was also invited to the festival's Gala Presentations. The 51st Toronto International Film Festival is scheduled to run from September 10 to 20.