Renowned South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook has been appointed President of the Jury for the Feature Film Competition at the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, marking a historic first for Korean cinema.
With a career spanning twelve acclaimed feature films, Park has established himself as one of the most fascinating voices in contemporary cinema. His works are celebrated for their visceral, subversive, and baroque style, blending narrative audacity with moral depth, and often immersing audiences in dark, provocative, and emotionally intense universes.
A Legacy of Excellence
Park Chan-wook first made his mark at Cannes with Old Boy, which won the Grand Prix in 2004. Since then, nearly all of his subsequent competition entries have earned accolades:
- Thirst, Ceci est mon sang (2009) – Jury Prize
- Mademoiselle (2016)
- Decision to Leave (2022) – Best Director
His films are known for strong, complex heroines and his trademark exploration of obsession and vengeance, themes central to his pictorial and stylistically bold filmography, including the acclaimed Vengeance Trilogy: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002), Old Boy (2004), and Lady Vengeance (2005).
Influences and Vision
Park Chan-wook’s cinematic style has been compared to Tarantino, De Palma, and Fincher, while he personally cites Kurosawa, Bergman, Visconti, and Hitchcock as key influences. Hitchcock’s impact is particularly evident in films like Stoker (2013) and Decision to Leave (2022), where suspense and meticulous visual composition define the narrative.
His latest film, Aucun autre choix (2025), satirizes society’s relentless pursuit of success, combining dark humor with incisive social critique, reflecting both feminist and queer sensibilities explored in Mademoiselle.
A Milestone for Korean Cinema
Park’s appointment as Jury President highlights Cannes’ longstanding commitment to Korean cinema, whose innovation has consistently been showcased through the Official Selection. Korean filmmakers have regularly achieved critical and box-office success at Cannes, including:
- Im Kwon-taek – Best Director, 2002
- Hong Sang-soo, Kim Ki-duk, Lee Chang-dong – notable competition selections
- Bong Joon-ho – first Korean Palme d’Or, 2019
Actors such as Jeon Do-yeon and Song Kang-ho have also been celebrated, often in Park Chan-wook’s films, emphasizing the global reach and impact of Korean cinema.
Park Chan-wook’s Vision for Cannes 2026
In a statement ahead of the festival, Park Chan-wook reflected on the power of cinema:
"The reason we sit in the dark in a cinema is to better see the light of the work we watch. The reason we confine ourselves to the theater is so that the soul may be liberated through the window of the film. I look forward to this dual voluntary captivity with my Jury members: being enclosed to watch a film, being enclosed to discuss a film. In this age of hate and division, the simple act of gathering together in a theater to watch a film, synchronizing our breaths and heartbeats, allows us to create solidarity, moving and universal."
On 23 May 2026, Park Chan-wook and his jury will award the Palme d’Or, continuing Cannes’ tradition of celebrating bold, visionary filmmaking on the world stage.
