The 79th Cannes Film Festival concluded with its closing press conference, presided over by jury president Park Chan-wook. A long-time favorite at Cannes who has yet to win a Palme d’Or himself, Park humorously addressed this fact while plugging his latest movie. He quipped that he struggled with the decision for this year’s top award, stating, “To be completely honest, I didn’t want to award the Palme d’Or to any of the films because it’s an award that I myself have never gotten. But I had no other choice,” deadpanning the remark.

Despite his jest, the jury did reach a verdict. The prestigious Palme d’Or was awarded to Cristian Mungiu’s intricate moral drama “Fjord,” starring Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve. This triumph marks a significant achievement for the Romanian writer-director, as it makes him the tenth filmmaker in history to win the coveted award twice. His first victory came 19 years prior with his acclaimed film “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.”

A notable highlight of the press conference was Park Chan-wook’s assertive defense of the jury’s decision to award shared honors in two significant categories: acting and directing. For the acting award, Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto received recognition for their roles in Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “All of a Sudden.” In the directing category, a tie was declared between Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski for “Fatherland” and Spanish duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi for “The Black Ball.” Park was unapologetic about these shared accolades. “If you have seen the two films that were awarded the acting award, I’m certain you’d have to agree with our choices,” he stated. He further emphasized his point regarding the directing tie: “To emphasize this again, both filmmakers did an amazing job, and we just couldn’t decide if one was better than the other.”

The distinguished jury presided over by Park Chan-wook included a diverse group of talents: Demi Moore, Ruth Negga, Laura Wandel, Chloé Zhao, Diego Céspedes, Isaach De Bankolé, Paul Laverty, and Stellan Skarsgård. Notably, the two U.S. Competition titles, James Gray’s “Paper Tiger” and Ira Sachs’ “The Man I Love,” both left the festival empty-handed, underscoring a year that predominantly celebrated European cinema.

Park Chan-wook is an influential helmer renowned for films such as 2000’s “Joint Security Area” and 2003’s “Oldboy,” among many other works from his native Korea. In recent years, his profile has risen in Hollywood with projects like the HBO limited series “The Sympathizer,” starring Robert Downey Jr., and the 2025 drama “No Other Choice,” which enjoyed a strong arthouse run in the U.S. last year via distributor Neon. His films are no stranger to the Cannes festival; he most recently had a film in competition in 2016 with “The Handmaiden” and also served as a jury member for the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.