Park Chan-wook as jury president at Cannes 2026: Korean cinema is no longer asking for space. It's occupying it.
- Valentina Bonin
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
Park Chan-wook is a South Korean director, screenwriter, and producer, considered one of the most influential auteurs in contemporary cinema. At 62, with a filmography spanning psychological thrillers, melodramas, and historical drama, Park has built an immediately recognizable visual language: baroque, visceral, formally refined to the point of precision.
At the 79th Festival de Cannes, running from May 12 to 23, 2026, he serves as President of the Jury for feature films in competition. He, alongside the other eight jury members, will award the Palme d'Or at the closing ceremony on May 23.
It's the first time in the festival's history that a Korean filmmaker has held this position.
The relationship between Park Chan-wook and the Festival de Cannes
Park Chan-wook and Cannes know each other well. The relationship begins in 2004, when Oldboy wins the Grand Prix, with the explicit praise of Quentin Tarantino, who called the film "what I would have wanted to make myself." Since then, nearly every film he's brought to the Croisette has left a mark.
2004: Oldboy, Grand Prix
2009: Thirst, Jury Prize
2016: The Handmaiden, in competition
2022: Decision to Leave, Best Director Prize
This isn't a career presenting itself to Cannes. It's a career that has helped build the festival's identity over the last twenty years.
Why the Cannes 2026 jury presidency is news that goes beyond the symbolic
Park Chan-wook's appointment as jury president has been framed by many as a "historic recognition" and a "first time." All correct. But stopping there means missing the most important point.
Korean cinema is not a recent phenomenon that Cannes has decided to reward. It's a global visual grammar that has established itself within the international festival system over the last twenty-five years, and that today occupies a structural position within it. Parasite, Oldboy, Broker, Decision to Leave: these are not exceptions. They are evidence of a productive and creative system that has changed the way world cinema tells its stories.
Placing Park Chan-wook at the head of the jury isn't a gesture of openness toward Asia. It's the recognition, late and definitive, that the openness had already happened.
Korea at Cannes 2026: not just Park Chan-wook
Alongside Park Chan-wook sit: Demi Moore, Chloé Zhao, Ruth Negga, Laura Wandel, Diego Céspedes, Isaach De Bankolé, Paul Laverty, and Stellan Skarsgård. They will evaluate the 22 films in competition for the Palme d'Or. The jury is international, transversal, and deliberately undomesticated.
The Korean presence at the festival this year doesn't end with the jury presidency. Hope by Na Hong-jin is in competition for the Palme d'Or. Colony by Yeon Sang-ho is in the Midnight Screenings. Three names, three different positions within the festival.
Cannes 2026 isn't hosting Korean cinema. It's recognizing it as part of its own structure.
What happens on May 23
The closing ceremony of the 79th Festival de Cannes takes place on May 23, 2026. Park Chan-wook, together with his jury, will announce the winner of the Palme d'Or from the 22 films in competition. The 2025 Palme was awarded to Jafar Panahi for It Was Just an Accident.
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