CANNES: South Korean actor Song Kang-ho won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday for his role in “Broker,” the first South Korean film directed by Japan’s Hirokazu Koreeda.

It was the second time that an actor in a Koreeda film was selected for the best award at Cannes. In 2004, Yuya Yagira, who appeared in “Nobody Knows,” got the prize

Meanwhile, “Plan 75,” directed by Chie Hayakawa, also Japanese, gained a special mention related to the Camera d’Or best first feature film award.

This year’s Palme d’Or, the highest prize, went to Ruben Ostlund’s “Triangle of Sadness.”

The latest film by Koreeda features a human drama over a “baby post” for parents who cannot raise their newborn babies.

Koreeda told reporters that Song’s winning of the award was “the best achievement for the film.”

Song, who played a baby broker in the film, said it was a great honor to receive the Best Actor Award, and thanked Koreeda. Song was the leading actor of Oscar-winning “Parasite.”

Hayakawa’s “Plan 75” is the first feature film for her, portraying people tossed by a system allowing those aged 75 or over to choose death. It was nominated for the Un Certain Regard Prize.

“A comment that the film is necessary for us living now touched my heart,” Hayakawa said.

Among Japanese directors, Naomi Kawase saw her “Moe no Suzaku” win the Camera d’Or award in 1997.

JIJI Press