South Korean director Park Chan-wook will preside over the Cannes 2026 jury, a first for Korean cinema, as the festival celebrates global cultural impact
SOUTH Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook will preside over the jury at the 79th Cannes Film Festival in May.
Organisers announced the appointment, marking the first time a director from South Korea will head the prestigious festival jury.
The body he leads will award the 2026 Palme d’Or, the festival’s top prize.
Park, 62, is celebrated for genre-blending films like “Oldboy” and “Decision to Leave”.
“In this age of hatred and division, I believe that the simple act of coming together in a movie theatre to watch a film at the same time… makes it possible to create a moving, universal sense of solidarity,” Park was quoted as saying.
The festival praised his cinema as “narrative, stylistic (and) moral”.
His appointment coincides with soaring global recognition for South Korean culture.
This wave includes Bong Joon-ho’s Palme d’Or and Oscar-winning “Parasite”, the series “Squid Game”, and the global popularity of K-pop.
Park won the Best Director award at Cannes in 2022 for his romantic thriller “Decision to Leave”.
He first gained major international acclaim with “Oldboy”, which won the Cannes Grand Prix in 2004.
His latest film, 2025’s “No Other Choice”, adapts Donald Westlake’s novel “The Ax”.
It stars Lee Byung-hun and Son Ye-jin and explores contemporary anxieties about artificial intelligence and the job market.
A noted lover of literature, Park has adapted works by Emile Zola and Sarah Waters for the screen.
He has also directed acclaimed television series, including “The Little Drummer Girl” and HBO’s “The Sympathizer”.
