Korean director Park Chan-wook, who was met with global acclaim for last year’s erotic thriller “The Handmaiden,” will receive an award from Italy‘s Florence city government for his contributions to the development of culture and arts, film industry officials said Thursday.

Florence’s Mayor Dario Nardella will be giving Park a key to the city, an award given to prominent cultural figures, in a ceremony Saturday.

The “Oldboy” director is acclaimed internationally for his films which have received attention especially on the European film circuit, such as at the Cannes and Venice film festivals.

The filmmaker is in Italy to attend the 15th Florence Korea Film Festival, set to run March 23-31. 

This year’s film fest is to showcase a retrospective of his 15 feature and short films, including works such as “Joint Security Area” (2000), “Lady Vengeance” (2005) and “Thirst” (2009). Park will also be participating in a talk session with fans following a screening of “The Handmaiden” at La Compagnia theater in the city center Saturday. He will also be hosting a master class there.

The annual film festival will feature 43 Korean feature and short films this year.

It will open with Kim Jee-woon‘s noir period flick “The Age of Shadows” about independence fighters during the Japanese occupation of Korea, and close with Kim Ki-duk’s “The Net,” a story of a North Korean fisherman whose boat drifts to the South.

The film fest has been organized since 2003 by the Taegukgi Toscana Korea Association in partnership with the Korean Film Council and film institutions of the Tuscany region. Directors featured in past festivals include Im Sang-soo, Lee Chang-dong, Kwak Jae-yong, Hur Jin-ho and Bong Joon-ho.

By Rumy Doo (doo@heraldcorp.com)