Netflix has unveiled “This Is K-Cinema,” a new collection bringing together around 150 films from 38 Korean directors, the streamer announced on November 9. The launch comes just days after the worldwide Netflix release of Lee Chang-dong’s “Possible Love,” the film that inspired the collection.
The lineup spans the full arc of modern Korean cinema. It includes the masters who shaped the industry — Im Kwon-taek, Lee Chang-dong, Bong Joon-ho, Park Chan-wook and Hong Sang-soo — alongside the genre filmmakers who widened its reach, Na Hong-jin, Yeon Sang-ho and Hwang Dong-hyuk, and the directors leading the current generation, Yoon Ga-eun, Kim Bo-ra and July Jung. Netflix said the collection was created to raise interest in Korean cinema as a whole, giving audiences who discovered the country’s films through “Possible Love” a way to go deeper.
Lee’s own work anchors the collection. His complete feature filmography is included, along with his short film “Heartbeat,” and his landmark titles “Green Fish,” “Peppermint Candy,” “Oasis” and “Secret Sunshine” have been remastered in 4K for the platform.
“Possible Love” itself is the occasion for the collection. The 164-minute drama, Lee’s first feature in eight years since “Burning” (2018), stars Jeon Do-yeon, Sul Kyung-gu, Zo In-sung and Cho Yeo-jeong, and follows two married couples whose lives become entangled through a documentary project about laid-off workers. It won the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival, received a limited theatrical release in the United States and the United Kingdom on October 23, and began streaming worldwide on Netflix on November 6.
Netflix is also pushing the classics beyond Korea. Since late August, “Green Fish” and “Secret Sunshine” have been streaming in Italy, the United Kingdom, France, Australia and New Zealand, while “Peppermint Candy” and “Oasis” arrived in Spain and Italy in early September. Ryoo Seung-wan’s “Berlin” is also being released at home and abroad, according to Segye Ilbo.
The collection lands at a moment when Korean film has never been more visible internationally. Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” (2019) remains the reference point most global audiences know, but the directors in this collection represent a much longer lineage: Im Kwon-taek’s career stretches back decades, Park Chan-wook’s “Oldboy” (2003) helped define Korean cinema’s international breakthrough in the 2000s, and Lee Chang-dong’s films — from “Peppermint Candy” to “Burning” — have been festival fixtures for a generation. By packaging 150 titles under one banner, Netflix is treating that history as a library to be explored rather than a single new release to be promoted.
For Lee himself, the timing is notable. “Possible Love” is his first feature since “Burning” in 2018, and its festival run has already brought him fresh recognition: the film won Best Picture at the 46th Korean Film Critics Awards, and Jeon Do-yeon was named Best Actress by the Korean Association of Film Critics. The collection effectively turns his comeback into a doorway for the rest of Korean cinema, letting a new audience trace the directors and films that came before it.
Netflix has not released the full list of around 150 titles, so the films named so far reflect each director’s best-known work rather than a confirmed lineup. With the collection now live, the next test is whether viewers who arrived for one acclaimed new film stay to explore the decades behind it. Few streaming libraries arrive with a single new release as their calling card, and this one is betting that a celebrated comeback can carry an entire national cinema with it.
