Author: VIBE KR 편집팀

Lee Chang-dong's new film 'Possible Love' is having a moment on the international festival circuit. At this year's closing ceremony on the Lido in Venice, Italy, the film took home the Jury Grand Prize — the festival's second-most prestigious award after the Golden Lion. The ceremony wrapped up on the evening of Sept. 12 local time, with news reaching Korea in the early hours the next morning. The film also picked up the FIPRESCI Prize, awarded separately by the International Federation of Film Critics, making it a two-award night.

Accepting the honor, Lee said he made the film to ask what role cinema should play at a time when jobs and human relationships are growing thinner and more precarious. He said he'd take the award as encouragement to keep asking that question. He thanked his younger brother and producer, Pinehouse Film CEO Lee Joon-dong; co-writer Oh Jung-mi; Netflix, which handled distribution and financing; and the cast and his family.

The film follows two couples: Ho-seok, a laid-off factory worker, and his wife Mi-ok; and Ye-ji, a documentary director trying to film the couple, and her wealthy husband Sang-woo. As filming progresses, all four confront each other's different ways of living and desires they'd kept hidden. Sul Kyung-gu and Jeon Do-yeon play Ho-seok and Mi-ok, while Jo Yeo-jeong and Jo In-sung play Ye-ji and Sang-woo.

This isn't Lee's first time on this stage. His 2002 film 'Oasis' won Best Director, a Best New Actor prize, and the FIPRESCI Prize there — meaning it's been 24 years since his last trip to the Venice podium. Widen the lens to Korean cinema overall, and it's been 14 years since a Korean film won a top prize in competition at Venice, going back to Kim Ki-duk's Golden Lion win in 2012. This year's Golden Lion, incidentally, went to Danish director Mai El-Toukhy's new film, about a woman about to be married who tries to hide a past entanglement with German soldiers during World War II; the film also won Best Actress.

Korean audiences can catch 'Possible Love' in select theaters starting Sept. 23. It then streams worldwide on Netflix starting Nov. 6. The film has already been confirmed as Korea's submission for Best International Feature at the Academy Awards, and it's also headed to festivals in Toronto, New York, San Sebastian, Zurich, Vancouver and Busan.

ENHYPEN, the six-member group, rode its latest single to a string of trophies across South Korea's terrestrial and cable music shows. What stood out was the consistency — different shows have different formats and judging criteria, yet the group topped them all. On one show in particular, ENHYPEN won every single time it performed, completing what's known as a "triple crown" after its third appearance — a first in the group's career.

The song itself is a dance track built on a Brazilian funk beat, contrasting an outwardly desperate energy with a cooler undercurrent, per the group's label. The eighth mini album released alongside it tells a love story built around the idea that having someone stick by your side through a crisis is itself a blessing. Separate from its domestic run, the album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 — the US's flagship albums chart — and held onto a top spot even after a second week.

The reception abroad extended further. The title track cracked a Billboard secondary singles chart for the first time since its release, and ENHYPEN also set new personal bests on Billboard's global charts — both the worldwide chart that includes non-English-language music and the version that excludes the US. Streaming numbers have stayed strong even after the group wrapped its official promotional run.

On the sales side, the album became ENHYPEN's fifth "double million-seller" — Korean industry shorthand for an album that clears twice a major benchmark in first-week sales. The group, which debuted in 2020, has now racked up outsized sales with essentially every release. Between the sweep of domestic broadcast wins and the parallel strength abroad, this era stands out as one of the group's most decorated yet.

Singer Hwasa is the first K-pop female soloist to headline the main stage of Brazil's biggest music festival. On the 11th, local time, she takes Palco Mundo — Rock in Rio's flagship stage — at Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro.

Rock in Rio started in Brazil in 1985 and has since grown into a global franchise with editions in Lisbon, Madrid, and Las Vegas. Legends like Beyoncé, Queen, Guns N' Roses, and Bon Jovi have all played this stage.

This year's Palco Mundo lineup includes Elton John, Maroon 5, and Stray Kids, with Hwasa joining the bill. Her set will feature hits like 'Twit' and 'Maria,' plus the single she dropped last October — a track that racked up 750 Perfect All-Kills on Korea's combined music charts, the best showing of any Korean artist's song.

Born in 1995, Hwasa debuted in 2014 as a member of Mamamoo and has built a solo career alongside her group work ever since. This appearance looks set to expand her footprint as a solo artist well beyond Korea.

The news first surfaced three days ago, on September 10, when BTS's agency posted a notice on its fan community channel. The announcement named the screening program and specified exactly which shows would make it to theaters.

Two shows made the cut: Buenos Aires's third concert and São Paulo's second. How they're screened depends on where you are — regions with a smaller time gap get the broadcast in real time, matched to local schedules, while places with a bigger time difference, like Korea and the rest of Asia and Australia, will see it days later.

In Korea, you can catch it at CGV, Lotte Cinema, or Megabox. Tickets go on sale in stages starting September 17 — domestic sales open that morning, with international sales following at 10 p.m. the same day.

These two screenings are just a slice of a much bigger run: BTS is spending all of October on the road across South America, with stops in Santiago, Lima, and Bogotá before wrapping up in Argentina and Brazil. Buenos Aires gets shows on October 21, 23, and 24; São Paulo follows with October 28, 30, and 31.

The South America leg is part of BTS's 'Arirang' world tour — their first tour as a full seven-member group in roughly four years, since 2022. The tour kicked off in April at Goyang Stadium and has already swept through Japan, North America, and Europe.

Kim Garam's new profile shoot, marking her acting debut, leans into restrained expressions and a range of moods. Management GU, which produced the shoot, said it wanted to showcase her versatility and growth potential, adding that it plans to back her upcoming acting work.

Her time in the public eye traces back to her girl-group debut. Not long after the group made its name, allegations of violence from her middle school years surfaced, and her activities were suspended before her contract with her original agency was terminated shortly after. Accounts from the alleged parties and from Kim Garam's side diverged at the time; she later posted a statement acknowledging her own immaturity in handling the situation.

Even during her time away from the spotlight, she didn't abandon a path back. She began studying on-camera acting at university starting in 2024, and this past March started posting practice videos on her own YouTube channel, reconnecting with the public on her own terms. That visibility reportedly caught her new agency's attention, leading to a formal contract signed this past June.

The agency cited her consistency and drive to grow as the reasons behind the signing, noting that alongside acting training, she has also been studying English and Japanese and working on physical conditioning. No specific project has been finalized yet, with her team saying she's currently weighing options for her next move.

Billboard puts out its "Global Song of the Summer" recap every year, tallying up the season's music consumption — and this year's edition is built on streaming and sales data gathered by Luminate from more than 200 markets worldwide. BTS's "Swim" landed at No. 2 on the version that excludes the U.S. and No. 6 on the chart that folds America back in.

That result comes down to staying power. "Swim" held onto the upper reaches of the chart all summer long, topping the Global Excl. U.S. ranking eight separate times and hitting No. 1 on the combined Global 200 on four occasions. Rather than a brief spike, the song logged nearly four straight months near the top.

The album that carries "Swim," BTS's fifth studio record "Arirang," is still going strong too. When it dropped in March, it became the first BTS album since 2020's "BE" to debut atop both the Billboard 200 and the flagship singles chart in the same week. It then held the No. 1 album spot for three straight weeks, and nearly six months later it's still charting — up two spots to No. 29 on the latest list.

Billboard pointed to a major summer stage moment as part of the story. In mid-July, BTS headlined the halftime show at the FIFA World Cup final at a stadium in New Jersey alongside Shakira, Justin Bieber and Madonna — the first time a World Cup final has ever featured a halftime show at all.

The same recap also spotlighted BLACKPINK's Jennie, whose collaboration with Tame Impala cracked the upper rankings. Back in 2023, BTS's Jungkook became the first K-pop act to top this year-end list with his track alongside rapper Latto, and this year's showing suggests K-pop's summer dominance on the chart has become a multi-year pattern.