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| ▲ "No Other Choice" director Park Chan-wook listens to questions during a press conference at the Busan Cinema Center in Haeundae, Busan, in this Sept. 17, 2025, file photo. (Yonhap) |
(LEAD) Korean director-Cannes
(LEAD) Park Chan-wook named S. Korea's first Cannes jury president
(ATTN: ADDS more details in paras 3-5, last para; RECASTS headline)
SEOUL, Feb. 26 (Yonhap) -- Director Park Chan-wook has been named jury president at the Cannes Film Festival, foreign media reported Thursday, making him the first Korean director to assume the role.
The South Korean auteur will preside over the competition jury at the 79th edition, set to run from May 12-23 in the French resort city.
"Park's inventiveness, visual mastery, and penchant for capturing the multiple impulses of women and men with strange destinies have given contemporary cinema some truly memorable moments," said festival president Iris Knobloch and director Thierry Fremaux in a joint statement, according to the reports.
"We are delighted to celebrate his immense talent and, more broadly, the cinema of a country deeply engaged with the questioning of our time," it said.
In response, Park reportedly expressed his excitement for the appointment, saying "In this age of mutual hatred and division, I believe that the simple act of gathering in a theater to watch a single film together, our breaths and heartbeats aligning, is itself a moving and universal expression of solidarity."
Park first made his mark at Cannes in 2004, when "Oldboy" earned him the Grand Prix. He went on to win the Jury Prize for "Thirst" in 2009 and received the Best Director award for "Decision to Leave" in 2022.
He will succeed French actress Juliette Binoche as jury president.
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