POETRY (SHI) World Cinema

Lee Chang-dong returns to AFI FEST after his triumphant 2008 screening of SECRET SUNSHINE with his latest film, POETRY This quietly precarious film opens with an enigmatic scene of a young girl’s corpse floating down a river The story then settles in with an elderly woman who cares for her troubled grandson in their modest home. She leads a simple existence as a cleaner and caregiver to an elderly disabled man. When her grandson becomes involved in a horrific public scandal, the crisis sends her into an existential downward spiral, and she turns to her newfound interest in writing poetry for solace and guidance As in Lee’s previous works, POETRY explores the human capacity for bestial darkness and how our worst failings can define and shape our shared moral landscape. A towering figure in contemporary world cinema, it is on honor to welcome Lee Chang-dong back to AFI FEST