Parasite Director Bong Joon Ho Named Jury President of 78th Venice International Film Festival

January 15, 2021

Cover Bong Joon Ho will chair the jury at this year's Venice Film Festival (photo: Getty Images)

Set to take place this September, Bong will chair a jury awarding the Golden Lion

The Venice Biennale board of directors has appointed Bong Joon Ho, director of Oscar(s)-winning film Parasite, president of the International Jury of the Competition at this year's Venice International Film Festival, set to take place from September 1 to 11. Bong, along with seven further jurors, will decide eight awards presented on the the last night of the film festival:

The Golden Lion for best film
The Silver Lion, the grand jury prize
The Silver Lion award for best director
The Coppa Volpi award for best actor
The Coppa Volpi award for best actress
The award for Best Screenplay
The Special Jury Prize
And the Marcello Mastroianni Award for best new young actor or actress

"The first, good news item regarding the 78th Venice Film Festival is that Bong Joon Ho has enthusiastically agreed to preside over the Jury," said the Director of the Venice Film Festival Alberto Barbera in the announcement. "Today, this great Korean director is one of the most authentic and original voices in worldwide cinema.

"We are immensely grateful to him for having agreed to put his passion as a cinephile attentive, inquisitive, and unprejudiced, at the service of our festival. It is a pleasure and an honor to be able to share the joy of this moment with the countless admirers, throughout the world, of his extraordinary movies. The decision to entrust the Jury to a Korean filmmaker, for the first time in the festival’s history, is also confirmation that the Venetian event embraces the cinema of the entire world, and that directors from every country know they can consider Venice their second home."

Bong is the first Korean director to be recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. His first film, Barking Dogs Never Bite, premiered in 2000. Over the ensuing 19 years, he directed award-winning movies including Memories of a Murder (2003), The Host (2006), and Okja (2017). Parasite won Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, Best International Feature Film, and Best Picture.

"The Venice International Film Festival carries with it a long and varied history, and I'm honored to be woven into its beautiful cinematic tradition," Bong said in his acceptance of the jury president appointment. "As president of the jury—and more importantly as a perpetual cinephile—I'm ready to admire and applaud all the great films selected by the festival. I'm filled with genuine hope and excitement."