Lee Chang-dong’s first short film Heartbeat reaches Netflix on November 2

Heartbeat, the first short film directed by Lee Chang-dong, launches globally on Netflix on November 2, 2026. The 28-minute South Korean film follows Cheol, a boy who rushes home after failing to reach his mother, who lives with depression. Its streaming debut comes four days before Possible Love, the filmmaker’s new feature, reaches the platform on November 6.

Netflix announced the date and global rollout on October 30. The company also confirmed subtitles in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, French and German. Its statement does not provide a complete list of audio options or establish that every territory will receive exactly the same accessibility features.

A 2022 film receiving worldwide distribution

The development is not the production of a newly shot short. Heartbeat had its world premiere at the 23rd Jeonju International Film Festival in 2022 but did not receive a broad commercial theatrical release. The festival archive identifies it as a 28-minute South Korean color fiction film.

Kim Geon-u plays Cheol. Jeon Do-yeon portrays his mother, while Sul Kyung-gu provides the voice of his father, a worker involved in a protest atop a tower crane. Lee Chang-dong wrote the screenplay with Oh Jung-mi. The official festival credits also list Park Hong-yeol as cinematographer, Mowg as composer and Kim Dawon as editor.

The story began with a proposal from the World Health Organization and the Beijing Contemporary Art Foundation asking filmmakers to address depression. According to Jeonju’s program note, the camera follows the boy’s run in a single take. The formal choice keeps Cheol’s face at the center of the experience and turns his concern for his family into a journey that also points toward social pressures connected to work.

A thematic bridge to Possible Love

Netflix describes Heartbeat as sharing thematic ground with Possible Love, particularly through its attention to labor and depression. The projects also share Jeon Do-yeon, Sul Kyung-gu and Oh Jung-mi’s writing collaboration. That does not reduce the short to a promotional prologue: it screened four years before the feature’s streaming release and has its own beginning, development and conclusion.

The close dates nevertheless create a deliberate programming sequence. The short arrives on November 2, followed by the feature on November 6. For viewers who know Lee primarily through Burning, the window offers a concise look at how the director connects private suffering, inequality and labor structures before moving to a longer narrative.

The release also changes access. A work previously associated with the festival circuit will reach multiple countries with subtitles in six languages. That is the confirmed development. Its actual audience size, how long it remains in the catalog and its reception outside South Korea can only be assessed after release; any performance forecast at this stage would be inference.

The editorial significance lies in that second life. Netflix is not presenting Heartbeat as a newly completed film, but turning a previously limited-access festival short into an entry point to Lee Chang-dong’s recent work. The four-day gap before Possible Love strengthens that role without erasing the project’s independent origin.