South Korean director Park Chan-wook has been named jury president of the 79th Cannes International Film Festival.
The acclaimed filmmaker, known for directing “Oldboy,” “The Handmaiden,” and “Decision to Leave,” will lead the international jury tasked with selecting this year’s Palme d’Or winner.
“His presence at the Palais des Festivals testifies to the mutual loyalty that exists between Park Chan-wook and the Festival de Cannes,” the festival said in a statement. “He is often compared to film-makers such as Tarantino, De Palma, and Fincher for artistry in composing images whose formal beauty is matched only by their moral rigor. He also cites Kurosawa, Bergman, Visconti, and Hitchcock as models.”
Park’s “Oldboy” won the Grand Jury prize at Cannes in 2004. Park returned to the Croisette multiple times since. His vampire drama “Thirst” won the jury prize in 2009, “The Handmaiden” (2016) won the Vulcan Prize for its production design, and “Decision to Leave” took best director in 2022.
It was “Oldboy” that marked Park Chan-wook’s closest brush with the Palme d’Or. At Cannes, the Quentin Tarantino–led jury ultimately awarded the film the Grand Prix (second place), even though persistent rumors suggested that Tarantino himself wanted to give “Oldboy” the Palme d’Or.
Instead, the jury chose to make a political statement, awarding the top prize to Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11.” Stories of the jury deliberating for hours over whether to honor Park or Moore have since become part of Cannes lore.
A Hollywood Reporter piece marking “Oldboy”’s 20th anniversary confirmed what many already suspected: Tarantino fell madly in love with the film, but couldn’t convince some of his peers to reward it top honors.
Members of Park’s team say they spotted Tarantino in the crowd at no fewer than three separate screenings of “Oldboy” during Cannes, including the international premiere. (Tilda Swinton, also on the jury that year, jokingly warned Park to watch out because Tarantino would probably “steal a lot” from “”Oldboy.”)
In retrospect, the jury clearly made the wrong decision. “Fahrenheit 9/11” was a spur-of-the-moment victory—a compromise that allowed the jury to unite around a timely political statement against the war in Iraq.
The 2026 Cannes Film Festival will run from May 12 to May 23. With this appointment, Park becomes the first Korean filmmaker to serve as president of the Cannes jury.