Known for Directing
Park Chan-wook (Korean: 박찬욱; pronounced [pak̚tɕʰanuk̚]; born 23 August 1963) is a South Korean filmmaker and former film critic. Widely regarded as a leading figure in South Korean and 21st-century world cinema, he is known for films that blend crime, mystery, and thriller elements with other genres. His films are noted for their cinematography, framing, black humour, and often brutal subject matter. After two unsuccessful films in the 1990s, which he has since largely disowned, Park came to prominence with his acclaimed third directorial effort, Joint Security Area (2000), which became the highest-grossing film in South Korean history at the time and which Park himself prefers to be regarded as his directorial debut. Using his newfound creative freedom, he would go on to direct the films forming his unofficial The Vengeance Trilogy: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002), a financial failure that polarised critics, followed by Oldboy (2003) and Lady Vengeance (2005), both of which received critical acclaim and were financially successful. Oldboy in particular is regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, and helped establish Park as a well-known director outside his native country. Most of Park's work following The Vengeance Trilogy was also commercially and critically successful both in South Korea and internationally, such as Thirst (2009), The Handmaiden (2016), which earned Park the BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language, and Decision to Leave (2022), which won the Best Director award at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. He directed the English-language miniseries The Little Drummer Girl (2018) and The Sympathizer (2024). His 2025 film No Other Choice was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Description above from the Wikipedia article Park Chan-wook, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Born
August 23, 1963 (age 63)
Birthplace
Seoul, South Korea
Filmography
96 films, 15 shows


No Other Choice
2025 · 2h 19m
country: South Korea
After being laid off and humiliated by a ruthless job market, a veteran paper mill manager descends into violence in a desperate bid to reclaim his dignity.


Decision to Leave
2022 · 2h 19m
country: South Korea
From a mountain peak in South Korea, a man plummets to his death. Did he jump, or was he pushed? When detective Hae-joon arrives on the scene, he begins to suspect the dead man’s wife Seo-rae. But as he digs deeper into the investigation, he finds himself trapped in a web of deception and desire.


Decades Apart
2017 · 18m
country: South Korea
For the work Decades Apart commissioned by the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain for the exhibition Highlights, PARKing CHANce has conceived an original immersive 3D sound and image installation. Based on the set of Joint Security Area (JSA) (2000), a movie by Park Chan-wook, new images were filmed for the work and sound treated in a very surprising way to give the visitor a total experience.


The Handmaiden
2016 · 2h 25m
country: South Korea
1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl, Sook-hee, is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, Hideko, who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle Kouzuki. But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to steal her fortune.


A Rose Reborn
2014 · 20m
country: Italy
A brilliant young CEO from London contemplates the possibility of selling his invention to a mysterious Chinese billionaire. Before actually meeting his potential investor however our protagonist must face a number of challenges in the form of journeys, riddles and the exchange of clothes.


Bitter, Sweet, Seoul
2014 · 1h 3m
country: South Korea
Over 98 days from August 20th to November 25th 2013, 2821 people from around the world sent 11,852 video featuring many different faces of Seoul. 154 were selected, edited, and made into a movie.


V
2013 · 7m
country: South Korea
Lee Junghyun's 2013 music video directed by park chan-wook


Lee Jung Hyun: V
2013 · 6m
country: Unknown
A man experiences a car crash and visits the nearest spooky mansion for help, only to discover its ghostly inhabitant wants to take him as a groom.


Stoker
2013 · 1h 39m
country: United States
Following her father Richard's death in an unexplained road accident, reclusive teenager India Stoker withdraws further into the quiet rural life she shares with her emotionally disturbed mother Evie. But her curiosity is stirred when her mysterious uncle Charlie, who she has never met, suddenly arrives unannounced. Told that the darkly charismatic Charlie will now be staying at the house, India's initial well-founded distrust of her uncle's motivations begins to waver as she finds herself becoming ever more deeply entranced by his sinister charms.


Day Trip
2012 · 20m
country: South Korea
A master and his student visit a mountain to practice pansori (a musical storytelling performed by a singer and a drummer) after a music competition which outcome has left the trainee disappointed.


60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero
2011 · 1h
country: Estonia
An anthology of one-minute films created by 51 international filmmakers on the theme of the death of cinema. Intended as an ode to 35mm, the film was screened one time only on a purpose-built 20x12 meter public cinema screen in the Port of Tallinn, Estonia, on 22 December 2011. A special projector was constructed for the event which allowed the actual filmstrip to be burnt at the same time as the film was shown.


Night Fishing
2011 · 33m
country: South Korea
A man casually sets up for a fishing trip at the water's edge. Evening comes and a tug on his line presents him with the body of a woman.


Thirst
2009 · 2h 14m
country: South Korea
A respected priest volunteers for an experimental procedure that may lead to a cure for a deadly virus. He gets infected and dies, but a blood transfusion of unknown origin brings him back to life. Now, he’s torn between faith and bloodlust, and has a newfound desire for the wife of a childhood friend.


I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK
2006 · 1h 45m
country: South Korea
Young-goon, mentally deranged and frequently electro-charging herself with a transistor radio, has been admitted into a mental institution. Firmly believing herself to be a cyborg, she refuses to consume like a human being. Il-soon is another patient, who catches the eye of Young-goon and soon becomes a close friend. Il-soon is now confronted with the biggest task: to cure Young-goon's mental problem and have her eat real food.


Lady Vengeance
2005 · 1h 55m
country: South Korea
Released after being wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for 13 years, a woman begins executing her elaborate plan of retribution.


Three... Extremes
2004 · 2h 5m
country: Hong Kong
Features an anthology centred on the experiences of a witch doctor, a film-maker and a disgruntled extra determined to take revenge on him, and a novelist as well as her twin sister.


Oldboy
2003 · 2h
country: South Korea
With no clue how he came to be imprisoned, drugged and tortured for 15 years, a desperate man seeks revenge on his captors.


Never Ending Peace and Love
2003 · 28m
country: South Korea
"Never Ending Peace and Love" (or "N.E.P.A.L.") is part of the South Korean omnibus film "If You Were Me" (2003). Comprising six short films directed by six prominent Korean directors and commissioned by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, "If You Were Me" deals with discrimination in the country. The directors were given free rein with regards to subject and style. Park Chan-wook's short tackles the theme of human rights abuses towards foreign laborers in Korea, telling the sory of a Nepalese woman named Chandra who spent six years in a mental hospital after she was mistakenly accused of losing her mind.


If You Were Me
2003 · 1h 50m
country: South Korea
Anthology film of six shorts by leading Korean directors. Park Chan-Wook, tackles racial prejudice and the economic exploitation of immigrant workers through the real-life story of a Nepalese woman in Korea. Jeong Jae-Eun, tackles the plight of a paedophile released into the community. Yeo Gyun-Dong, invites disabled actor Kim Moon-Joo to re-enact his most famous protest. Im Soon-Rye, goes for the engrained sexism of Korean men with superb wit and, Park Jin-Pyo, confronts the horror of children forced into oral surgery to improve their English-speaking ability.


Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
2002 · 2h 9m
country: South Korea
A deaf man and his girlfriend resort to desperate measures in order to fund a kidney transplant for his sister. Things go horribly wrong, and the situation spirals rapidly into a cycle of violence and revenge.


Joint Security Area
2000 · 1h 48m
country: South Korea
Two North Korean soldiers are killed in the border area between North and South Korea, prompting an investigation by a neutral body. The sergeant is the shooter, but the lead investigator, a Swiss-Korean woman, receives differing accounts from the two sides.


Judgement
1999 · 27m
country: South Korea
At the identification of a dead body, a couple and a morgue employee both claim to be related to the deceased, and therefore the rightful recipient of an indemnity of at least 520,000.


Trio
1997 · 1h 43m
country: South Korea
Han is a suicidal saxophonist, Mun is a violent simpleton with an I.Q. of 80, and Maria is a single mother with dreams of becoming a nun. Han has tried numerous times to kill himself, but nothing ever works. After witnessing his wife's infidelity, it's the last straw.


The Moon Is... the Sun's Dream
1992 · 1h 43m
country: South Korea
A gangster in Busan is caught having an affair with his boss' mistress and the two run off with their organization's money.