Lee Sun-kyun. Image: Instagram/@hoduent The Busan International Film Festival, Asia’s largest, will this year posthumously honor late South Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun with the Korea Cinema Award, organizers said Friday, Aug. 23.
Lee, best known globally for his starring role in Bong Joon-ho’s 2019 Oscar-winning film “Parasite,” was found dead in an apparent suicide in December 2023 after a two-month police investigation over suspected drug use, sparking industry outcry and widespread public concern. The festival’s Korea Cinema Award is “presented to filmmakers who have elevated the status of Korean cinema and contributed to its global growth,” BIFF organizers said in a statement. This year, the award “will be given to the late actor Lee Sun-kyun, who won the hearts of both domestic and international film fans through his diverse works,” it said, adding the award ceremony will be held during the opening of the next BIFF on Oct.
2. This year’s festival will also feature a special screening of the actor’s six film and television works including “Parasite,” “Our Sunhi” (2013) and a portion of TV series “My Mister” (2018). The program also includes Lee’s last work, released posthumously, “Land of Happiness” (2024), in which the late actor played a military soldier during South Korea’s authoritarian period in the 1970s.
A graduate of South Korea’s prestigious Korea National University of Arts, Lee had won acclaim for his performances in a .