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The 28-minute South Korean short, first shown on the festival circuit in 2022, follows a boy’s urgent journey home to his mother.
Lee Chang-dong’s short film Heartbeat will arrive on Netflix globally on 2 November 2026, bringing the South Korean director’s 28-minute film to the platform four years after its festival debut. Netflix announced the release on 30 October.
The film stars Kim Geon-u as Cheol, with Jeon Do-yeon playing his mother and Sul Kyung-gu providing his father’s voice. It is Lee’s first short film, made following a suggestion from the World Health Organization and the Beijing Contemporary Art Foundation.
A boy’s journey home
At the centre of Heartbeat is an eight-year-old boy who leaves his classroom and runs home, worried about his mother. According to the Korean Film Archive’s synopsis, she is experiencing depression and has not answered his calls.
The family’s circumstances extend beyond the home: Cheol’s father is involved in a sit-in on a tower crane. The archive’s account places the child’s immediate concern alongside the pressures affecting his parents, connecting the story’s domestic setting with its wider social circumstances.
The Korean Film Council lists Heartbeat as a South Korean production from 2022, with a running time of 28 minutes. Lee Joon-dong is credited as executive producer. The original Korean title is 심장소리.
A festival film before its Netflix release
The November date marks the film’s Netflix arrival, rather than its world premiere. In March 2022, the Jeonju International Film Festival announced that Heartbeat would receive its world premiere at the festival’s 23rd edition, held from 28 April to 7 May that year.
The announcement formed part of Jeonju’s programme dedicated to the director, titled Lee Chang-dong: The Truth of the Invisible. The Korean Film Council’s record also lists festival screenings at Jeonju and San Sebastián in 2022.
When to watch ‘Heartbeat’
Netflix has announced subtitle options in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, French and German. Its release places Heartbeat alongside Lee’s forthcoming film Possible Love, scheduled to launch globally on Netflix on 6 November.
Heartbeat begins streaming on Netflix on Monday, 2 November 2026.
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