Korea returns to Cannes

South Korea is back in Cannes’s official selection with two films in 2026, after missing the festival’s lineup entirely last year. (festival-cannes.com) The Cannes Film Festival listed Na Hong-jin’s “Hope” in Competition and Yeon Sang-ho’s “Gun-che,” presented internationally as “Colony,” in the Midnight Screenings section for its 79th edition, set for May 12 to 23, 2026. (festival-cannes.com) The Korea Times reported on April 12 that the 2025 absence was the first time in 12 years that no Korean feature made Cannes’s official lineup. The paper said industry observers tied that miss to a domestic box-office slump and the shift toward streaming platforms. (koreatimes.co.kr) “Hope” gives South Korea its first Competition entry in four years, since Park Chan-wook’s “Decision to Leave” in 2022, according to The Korea Times. Cannes’s Competition section is the festival’s main race for the Palme d’Or. (koreatimes.co.kr) Na’s film is his first feature since “The Wailing” in 2016, and The Korea Times said its budget tops 50 billion won, or about $33.7 million. The cast includes Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, Jung Ho-yeon, Alicia Vikander, Michael Fassbender and Taylor Russell. (koreatimes.co.kr) At Cannes’s April 9 selection announcement, general delegate Thierry Frémaux presented “Hope” as part of a 21-film Competition lineup, according to The Korea Times. The official festival release also places the film alongside new work from directors including Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Cristian Mungiu and Pawel Pawlikowski. (koreatimes.co.kr) (festival-cannes.com) “Colony” lands in Midnight Screenings, the Cannes sidebar reserved for late-night genre titles such as thrillers, horror films and action movies, The Korea Times said. The film follows survivors trapped in a building as a mutating virus turns infected people into changing threats. (koreatimes.co.kr) The selection extends Yeon’s long Cannes run: “The King of Pigs” screened there in 2012, “Train to Busan” in 2016 and “Peninsula” in 2020, according to The Korea Times. The new film also brings Jun Ji-hyun back to movie screens for the first time in 11 years since “Assassination” in 2015, alongside Koo Kyo-hwan and Ji Chang-wook. (koreatimes.co.kr) For Cannes, the immediate next step is the festival itself in May. For South Korean cinema, the 2026 lineup ends a one-year break and puts one Korean film back in the Palme d’Or race. (festival-cannes.com) (koreatimes.co.kr)