Korean director Bong to steer Camera d’Or jury at Cannes

PARIS (AFP) ― South Korean director Bong Joon-ho will chair the jury that picks the winner of the Camera d’Or prize for best first film at this year’s Cannes film festival, organizers said on Thursday.

Bong, 41, whose films include “Barking Dog,” “Memories of Murder” and “The Host,” is no stranger to Cannes, having premiered his most recent feature “Mother” in its Un Certain Regard section in 2009.

The festival on the French Riviera opens on May 11 with US actor and director Robert De Niro presiding over the jury that will decide its most coveted Palme d’Or award.

Developing its online presence, the festival has also expanded its website (www.festival-cannes.org) with “An Illustrated History of Cinema Around the World” that highlights film-making in 12 countries ― with more to follow.

With all contributions posted in eight languages ― including Arabic, Chinese, English and Japanese ― “more than half the planet can now follow us” in their mother tongues, said festival director Gilles Jacob.

“The web-surfers of the world are not necessarily film buffs,” he added.

“We have to get them interested, as well as cinema fans.”