South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook will chair the jury of the 79th Cannes Film Festival in May, organizers announced Thursday. The director of the film "Old Boy", Grand Jury Prize at Cannes in 2004, said he was "impatient".

Published on: 02/26/2026 - 05:35 Modified on: 02/26/2026 - 07:15

South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook, who has directed twelve feature films including "Old Boy", has been named president of the jury for the 79th Cannes Film Festival, which will be held in May, the organizers announced on Thursday February 26.

"Park Chan-wook and his jury will designate the 2026 Palme d'Or, which will succeed that of the Iranian Jafar Panahi awarded last year by Juliette Binoche to 'A Simple Accident'", announced the Festival in a press release, referring to "a first for Korean cinema".

“I look forward to experiencing this double voluntary captivity with the members of the Jury,” said Park Chan-wook, quoted in the press release. “In this time of hatred and division, I believe that the simple act of gathering in a cinema to watch a film at the same time, synchronizing our breaths and our heartbeats, allows us to create solidarity, moving and universal,” added the 62-year-old director, producer and screenwriter.

At the crossroads of genres, but always fond of dark and disturbing universes, his cinema is "that of all daring: scriptwriting, stylistic, moral", praised the Cannes Festival.

Global influence of Korean culture

Park Chan-wook took on international stature with "Old Boy", Grand Jury Prize at Cannes in 2004. Adapted from a cult manga, this second part of a dark and bloody trilogy around revenge addresses social inequalities, a marker of Korean cinema.

Two of his other films were also awarded prizes on the Croisette: between romance and vampires, “Thirst, ceci est mon sang” received the jury prize in 2009, and “Decision to leave”, a thriller with dark romanticism, won the directing prize in 2022.

“No Other Choice”, his latest film released in 2025 and adapted from the novel “The Cleaver” (1997) by Donald Westlake, follows an unemployed man, determined to kill his potential competitors to get a job.

His films are also part of the global influence of South Korean culture, such as the 2019 Palme d'Or for "Parasite" by his compatriot Bong Joon-ho, the series "Squid Game" and "KPop Demon Hunters" or even the star groups of K-pop BTS and Blackpink.

With AFP

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