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Park Chan-wook is a South Korean film director, screenwriter, producer, and former film critic. He is considered as one of the most prominent filmmakers of South Korean cinema as well as world cinema in 21st century. His films have gained notoriety for their cinematography and framing, black humor and often brutal subject matter.
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. This film helped him to secure more creative freedom and his next were Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) and Oldboy (2003) which received widespread critical acclaim worldwide and also won Grand Prix prize at Cannes Film Festival. Lady Vengeance (2005), another film in the unofficial The Vengeance Trilogy, also received critical acclaim.
His next psychological thriller The Handmaiden (2016) premiered in competition to rave reviews at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, nominated for 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.
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.
