Lee Chang-dong Classics

Acclaimed Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong is often described as a “poet of cinema.” A novelist before becoming a director, he is known for his restrained yet penetrating gaze on lives pushed to the margins by harsh social realities. Oasis portrays a misunderstood relationship between an ex-convict and a woman with severe cerebral palsy, finding a fragile refuge in love amid an unforgiving world. Poetry follows an elderly woman taking a poetry class as her life begins to unravel, confronting the uneasy coexistence of beauty and cruelty. The documentary Lee Chang-dong: The Art of Irony looks back on his creative journey and body of work, exploring how literature, social realities, and human struggle have shaped his cinema. Revisit Lee Chang-dong’s classics on Giloo, and discover how his uncompromising honesty reveals the rawest textures of human life.

Classic!

What makes a classic a classic is its ability to awaken a sense of longing for times past. Timeless and ever-enchanting, classics are meant to be savored, again and again.

Lend Me Your Eyes.

I long to see the consciousness behind the work—where bold expression stands in contrast with vulnerability, and the extraordinary quietly harbors an everyday kind of ordinariness. Suddenly, that once-sacred figure takes on depth again. We’re given a chance to glimpse what they’ve left behind, their uncertainties—those very elements that make them human—slowly surfacing from behind the art.

Beyond the Shell

The body is a vessel—its contents, unspeakable. Encased and bordered, the body is never entirely one’s own. It is governed—by nations, by societies, by ideologies. A body may be incomplete from birth. It may only reveal itself in a fleeting moment. It may only feel whole when it sings. Its darkness becomes whole when it finally takes revenge. Five distinct films illuminate the tension between the body's inner desires and outer image. In Oasis, a woman with cerebral palsy dances and sings with an Indian elephant—if only in a dream. In Silent Steps, Ah-Chung tosses aside his crutch, holding up an entire theater with just his hands. In Miracle, a spirit medium’s quivering, closed-eyed body breaks into another dimension. In TPE-Tics, Huang Da-Wang owns his body only while singing onstage. In The Women’s Revenge, a woman in an eye patch strikes back inside a slaughterhouse, leaving male bodies in blood and shreds. Silent or twitching, imprisoned or forbidden—only when the body crosses a border does it become truly, differently embodied.

Taboo of Love

The erotic classic The Lover boldly pushes the boundaries of sensual cinema. Freaks blends horror and surrealism into a provocative spectacle of visual violence and beauty. In In the Realm of the Senses, an unforgettable depiction of suffocating, all-consuming desire secures its place in film history. In Oasis, two marginalized individuals find a love purer than anything the world around them can understand. And in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, Ryuichi Sakamoto and David Bowie share the screen—and a legendary, forbidden kiss. These films dare to confront desire, taboo, and tenderness—through shock, poetry, and unforgettable images.

Your Liberation Is Bound Up With Mine.

“We are all in one fight, and our freedom is all the same freedom.” — Far From the Tree Poverty, disability, illness, gender, race, or non-normative forms of labor—at first glance, our lives and bodies may seem worlds apart. But such differences can make us forget what we share as human beings: love and desire, dignity and pain, vulnerability and the need to be seen. Let’s watch a film. No one is an island. Somewhere in the story, you’ll find the corner that connects to your own.

Dasein – Born to Be Human

The exhibition takes “the human” as its central theme, reflecting on what it means to exist as a person in this world. It focuses on the intricate, interwoven relationships between self and self, self and others, and self and both physical and virtual environments. The exhibition title borrows from the existential concept of Dasein, or “being there,” to explore humanity’s presence in the here and now. Through this lens, the exhibition opens up multi-layered philosophical inquiries into the human condition and the nature of existence. In extending this curatorial theme, Jut Art Museum collaborates with Giloo, inviting participating artists to curate a selection of eight remarkable films that center on the question of being human. These works return to the essence of what it means to live as a person—interpreting, reflecting, and questioning the many dimensions of humanity, and inviting audiences to contemplate the meaning and possibilities of being born human.

Carnival Downstairs

This annual campaign, centered on amplifying the voices of those with lived experiences of poverty, is themed this year around “Home.” For some, home is a space of safety. For others, it’s wherever their loved ones are. For many, a fixed address is necessary just to access social welfare. Through a series of in-person events and curated online screenings, we aim to expand society’s understanding of “home” beyond conventional frameworks—to open a window to new imaginings of what home can be. This “window” represents not only a small yet vital need for many renters, but also a passage through which marginalized voices can reach the wider world. By opening this window, we invite society to embrace the realities of those on the margins—and in doing so, unlock new possibilities for how we all live today.

Korea's Classics

Kaleidoscope Heart.

There are no absolutes in this world—not when it comes to life, nor to the environment. May we all be granted a beautiful pair of eyes—to see different truths, to reflect on different values. Like a kaleidoscope, the heart holds many shifting facets. And in that ever-changing view, we learn to see more fully.