Park Chan-wook

He is considered one of the most prominent filmmakers of South Korean cinema as well as 21st-century world cinema.

His films have gained notoriety for their cinematography and framing, black humor and often brutal subject matter.

Park Chan-wook (born 23 August 1963) is a South Korean film director, screenwriter, producer, and former film critic.

Park Chan-wook was born 23 August 1963 in Seoul.

Both of his parents were native Seoul residents who have lived in Seoul for five generations.

His father, Park Don-seo, was a professor of architecture and former dean of Ajou University's College of Engineering.

Meanwhile, his grandfather, Park Seung-seo, was the former president of the Korean Bar Association.

Park studied philosophy at Sogang University, where, disappointed with the analytic orientation of the department and consequent scant offerings in aesthetics, he started a cinema club, the 'Sogang Film Community', and published a number of articles on contemporary cinema.

Originally intending to be an art critic, Park, upon seeing Vertigo, resolved to become a filmmaker.

After graduation, he wrote articles on film for journals and soon became an assistant director of films like Kkamdong, directed by Yu Yeong-jin, and Watercolor Painting in a Rainy Day, directed by Kwak Jae-yong (My Sassy Girl).

Park's debut feature film was The Moon Is... the Sun's Dream (1992).

After five years, he made his second film, Trio.

Park's early films were not successful at the box office, and he pursued a career as a film critic to make a living.

Tarantino also regards Park's Joint Security Area to be one of "the top twenty films made since 1992."

Park's first major critical and commercial success came with Joint Security Area (2000), which was the most watched South Korean film at the time.

In 2000, Park directed Joint Security Area, which was a great success both commercially and critically, even surpassing Kang Je-gyu's Shiri as the then most-watched film ever made in South Korea.

This success made it possible for Park to make his next film more independently.

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is the result of this creative freedom.

This film helped him to secure more creative freedom in his next films, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) and Oldboy (2003), which received widespread critical acclaim worldwide, with the latter also winning the Grand Prix prize at Cannes Film Festival.

Park's unofficially-titled Vengeance Trilogy consists of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002), Oldboy (2003) and Lady Vengeance (2005).

It was not originally intended to be a trilogy.

Park won the Grand Prix at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival for Oldboy.

The films concern the utter futility of vengeance and how it wreaks havoc on the lives of those involved.

As the head judge at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, he personally pushed for Park's Oldboy to be awarded the Palme d'Or (the honour eventually went to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11).

Oldboy garnered the Grand Prix, Cannes's second-highest honour.

Since 2004, Park has been an owner of the filmmaking company Moho Film, which participated in the production of Snowpiercer (2013) and The Handmaiden (2016).

Lady Vengeance (2005), another film in the unofficial The Vengeance Trilogy, also received critical acclaim.

Lady Vengeance was distributed by Tartan Films for the United States theatrical release in April 2006.

American director Quentin Tarantino is an avowed fan of Park.

In 2006, Park was the member of official section jury at the 63rd Venice International Film Festival.

In February 2007, Park won the Alfred Bauer Prize at the 57th Berlin International Film Festival.

The award, named after the festival's founder and in praise of works that introduce new perspectives, went to Park for his film, I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK.

He is also known for Thirst (2009) and English-language works Stoker (2013) and The Little Drummer Girl (2018), a television miniseries based on the novel of the same name by John le Carré.

In 2009, Park directed the vampire film Thirst, starring Song Kang-ho, which won the Prix du Jury (alongside Fish Tank, directed by Andrea Arnold) at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

He considered directing Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy but ultimately turned it down.

In 2011, Park said his new fantasy-horror film Paranmanjang (Night Fishing) was shot entirely on the iPhone.

His psychological thriller The Handmaiden (2016) premiered in competition to rave reviews at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, was nominated for the Palme d'Or and Queer Palm and won the Vulcain Prize for the Technical Arts; the film saw critical and commercial success in several countries, including South Korea, the United States and the United Kingdom.

It also won the category of Best Film Not in the English Language.

For Decision to Leave (2022), Park won Best Director at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival and the film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or.

In an interview in 2017, he said "Many people think my directorial debut film is JSA, but I want to keep it that way".