Cannes jury boss Park Chan-wook slams 'political' movies haters

With Oldboy and Lady Vengeance to his name, Park Chan-wook is a top-tier director in South Korea.

Thus, when he spoke about politics and art at Cannes as jury president, all eyes were on him.

In his view, art and politics are not separate.

"I think it’s a strange concept to think that they’re in conflict with each other," Park says.

"Just because a work of art has a political statement, it should not be considered an enemy of art."

What about the movies that do not have a political statement?

Park says, "Just because a film is not making a political statement, that film should not be ignored."

But critics say politics is sometimes used as propaganda in movies.

To them, Park notes, it is bad filmmaking rather than politics that turns cinema into propaganda.

"Even if we were to make a brilliant political statement, if it’s not expressed artfully enough, it would just be propaganda."

Capping off his comments, he says, "So what I want to say is that art and politics are not concepts that are in conflict with each other; as long as they are artistically expressed, they are valuable."

Park's remarks about art and politics come as Cannes is set to feature a few films that may address politically charged topics.