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The Cannes Film Festival is now in full swing and on Sunday night (May 18th), festival director Thierry Fremaux was awarded the ‘Order of Culture Merit, Eun-Gwan Medal’ by the South Korean government.

 

The medal was presented to Cannes’ general director during the Korean Film Night, which was hosted by the Korean Film Council and Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Fremaux received the award from KIM Dong-ho, the honorary director of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) who currently leads the Presidential Committee for Cultural Enrichment. The honor was bestowed to Fremaux “in recognition of his contributions to the development of Korea’s film industry and the elevation of its international standing.” Other guests at the soiree included main competition juror JEON Do-yeon and current BIFF director LEE Yong-gwan.

 

Meanwhile, Sunday also featured the world premiere of Showbox’s new thriller A Hard Day, which was presented in the Director’s Fortnight lineup. The film received glowing reviews from trade magazines The Hollywood Reporter, Screen Daily and Film Business Asia, as well as major online film portals such as Indiewire. Film Business Asia’s Derek Elley described the film as a taut thriller that “is pacily packaged and leavened with plenty of black humour.” Stephen Dalton, writing for THR, called it a “masterclass in throat-squeezing, stomach-knotting suspense.” The film, directed by KIM Seong-hun and starring LEE Sun-gyun and CHO Jin-woong, will bow domestically on May 29.