Photo/Illutration Director Hirokazu Kore-eda, left, congratulates Song Kang-ho, center, as he rises to receive the Best Actor Award for “Broker” at the Cannes International Film Festival on May 28. Seen next to Song is actor Gang Dong-won. (AP)

CANNES, France--Song Kang-ho landed the Best Actor Prize in the Cannes International Film Festival on May 28 for his performance in Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “Broker,” a Korean-language drama that tackles the difficulties of finding a home for an abandoned infant.

“Broker” also won the Ecumenical Jury Prize, which is awarded by a jury of Catholic and Protestant film specialists.

The drama revolves around a so-called baby box where newborns are dropped off anonymously to be cared for by others, a young mother who uses the box and brokers who find infants for childless couples. Such situations inevitably involve a police investigation.

Another Japanese director, Chie Hayakawa, received the Camera d’Or Special Mention for her debut movie “Plan 75,” a film about a fictional government program to encourage euthanasia for people 75 or older.

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Veteran South Korean actor Song Kang-ho speaks at a news conference after winning Best Actor Prize for “Broker” directed by Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda at the Cannes International Film Festival on May 28. (Noriki Ishitobi)

After winning the prize for best actor, Song, the Academy-Award winning “Parasite” star, expressed his appreciation for Kore-eda, Gang Dong-won and other members of the cast to thunderous applause from the packed audience.

“I feel happiest when an actor or actress in my movie is praised for their performance,” Kore-eda said after the awards ceremony. “For me, Song receiving the award became the most beautiful finish line.”

It marked a fourth time that a film by Kore-eda has landed an award in the competition category at the Cannes festival, including the Palme d’Or, or Best Picture, for his “Shoplifters” in 2018.

Hayakawa in her speech said, “Some people have said to me that my movie is something today’s people need to watch, and I am touched by the comments.”

This year’s Palme d’Or went to “Triangle of Sadness” by Swedish filmmaker Ruben Ostlund, his second Palme d’Or after 2017’s “The Square.”

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