First Korean filmmaker to win Palme d'Or at Cannes hopes to inspire people

Filmmaker Bong Joon-ho, who became the first South Korean director to win Cannes Film Festival's prestigious Palme d'Or award for his film "Parasite", hopes this will inspire people to learn more about the cinema from his country. The director, best known for his films such as "Memories of Murder", "The Host" and "Snowpiercer", said he was not the only South Korean director who could win the award.

Bong said the Palme d'Or win was special as 2019 marks the 100 year anniversary of cinema in Korea, according to IndieWire. "In 2006, I went to see a retrospective on Kim Ki-young. I went to the French cinema library to see that and was surprised to see French spectators really liked his films and that made a big impression on me. I got the Palme today in Cannes but I'm not the only Korean director who could receive that award," he said at a press conference.

"There's a lot of Korean talent that could win the Palme. I would like to do more retrospectives around the world featuring great Korean directors. Maybe today this will help me move forward in this direction. It's an opportunity for people to learn more about Korean cinema around the world," the director said. Cannes jury, headed by Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu, awarded "Parasite", Bong's seventh film, the Palme d'Or in a unanimous vote on Sunday.