KOREA FOUNDATION

Yoon Sung-eun, Film Critic

Good hunches, good results. When two Korean films were invited to the In Competition section of the Cannes Film Festival—which, in May of this year, saw its first full-fledged edition in three years, after being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic for two years in a row—Korean media began to grow excited. About 40 media outlets bought airline tickets to Cannes, hoping to see two Koreans receive accolades there. The fact that a Korean film won the festival’s top honor three years ago seemed to have been forgotten, and all eyes were on director Park Chan-wook and actor Song Kang-ho. Eventually, both of them returned home with awards from Cannes, marking the first time that Korean productions won two awards in the In Competition section.

Park and fellow director Hirokazu Kore-eda are Cannes favorites, and the invitations of their latest works were far from surprising; that said, the fact that both earned prizes in the competition, in which the world’s best filmmakers compete, was highly significant. Park had won awards at Cannes twice before, for Oldboy in 2004 and Thirst in 2009. Song was considered a strong candidate for Best Actor for Thirst and 2019’s Parasite directed by Bong Joon-ho, but the award had proved elusive for him. Last year, Song appeared at Cannes to promote Han Jae-rim’s film Emergency Declaration, in which he starred. The work was screened in the Out of Competition section, and Song served on the festival’s jury. By winning Best Actor this year, he became the fifth Asian to do so in Cannes’s 75-year history. In other words, his honor is not simply an occasion to celebrate for Korean cinema but also a significant event for the festival.

Cannes took decades before finally showing its love for Korean film. Since the 1919 release of director Kim Do-san’s The Righteous Revenge, which is officially recorded as Korea’s first motion picture, domestic cinema in the early half of the 20th century suffered a trying ordeal given the nation’s prolonged oppression by Imperial Japan, the disastrous Korean War, and censorship by subsequent military regimes. Korea certainly had brilliant writers and producers who presented masterpieces that transcended the limitations of these dark times, but domestic films came across as unfamiliar, if not strange, to the rest of the world, especially the West. Among the world’s three top film festivals, Cannes recognized Korean cinema later than the other two in Berlin and Venice. Generation Z might find it perplexing that the French-based festival failed to recognize Korean cinema until 2002, when Im Kwon-taek won Best Director for Chihwaseon (Painted Fire). Following his success, Korean film directors became regulars on festival’s red carpet, with Park Chan-wook winning the Palme d’Or for Oldboy and the Jury Prize for Thirst, Jeon Do-yeon taking home the Best Actress accolade for her performance in Secret Sunshine by Lee Chang-dong who also won the Best Screenplay award for Poetry, Hong Sang-soo claiming the Prix Un Certain Regard for Hahaha, and two films by Im Sang-soo and one by Bong Joon-ho being featured in the In Competition section (The Housemaid and The Taste of Money, and Okja, respectively). Together, these works built the foundation upon which to promote the excellence of Korean cinema abroad.

In 2019, when Bong’s Parasite won the top prize at Cannes and the Best Picture and three other accolades at the Academy Awards, people in the Korean film sector rejoiced that their films had finally joined Hallyu, the Korean Wave. However, after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic confined moviegoers to their homes, however, the film community and movie theaters were stuck in a tunnel with seemingly no light at the end. Ironically, this challenging time attracted more global attention to Korean content as over-the-top, or OTT, platforms released a slew of works from Korea. From films that could not be screened at theaters to original TV shows, numerous Korean works gained massive popularity, one of them being last year’s global sensation and cultural phenomenon Squid Game, which was created, written, and directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk. Against this backdrop, Squid Game actor Lee Jung-jae went to Cannes again this year with his directorial debut Hunt, which was featured in the Midnight screenings, part of the festival’s Out of Competition section. During the pandemic, the release of finished films was often delayed, but riding on the Hallyu craze, filmmakers kept churning out quality productions like Decision to Leave and Broker, despite the chaotic situation.

In a sense, the Cannes festival is an event where political dynamics are at play, so winning here cannot be the ultimate goal for the Korean film industry. Yet, the festival’s recognition of Korean cinema has undoubtedly shaped a positive international image of Korean films and boosted their overseas sales. Above all, the two Cannes trophies of Park and Song this year will surely stimulate the younger generation dreaming of careers in cultural content production.

Yoon Seong-eunCannes Film FestivalPark Chan-wookSong Kang-hoDecision to LeaveBroker