Park Chan-wook is one of the pre-eminent figures in South Korean cinema. His career took off with the movie “Joint Security Area” (2000), a movie that was wildly commercially successful and introduced his unique combination of mystery, thriller, and crime movie. He quickly went on to direct three movies that would define his career: “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" (2002), “Oldboy” (2003), and “Lady Vengeance" (2005). “Oldboy” (2013) has cemented its place as a modern classic and is considered one of the best movies of all time. Park Chan-wook went on to dabble in different genres with movies such as the psychological romance movie “I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK” (2006), the comedy “Crush and Blush” (2008), and his celebrated horror movie “Thirst” (2009). He made his English-language debut with “Stoker” (2013) before going on to direct the erotic thriller “The Handmaiden” (2016), which won Best Film Not in the English Language at the Academy Awards. The neo-noir romance mystery movie “Decision to Leave” (2022) won him Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival, and his satirical comedy “No Other Choice” (2025) premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, where it was critically lauded.