Master Class: Michel Hazanavicius and Bérénice Bejo

The 28th Bucheon International Animation Festival (BIAF2026) will present the French Special Exhibition “Twinkle Twinkle France” to commemorate the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and France.
Michel Hazanavicius, director of the Academy Award-winning The Artist, and its leading actress Bérénice Bejo will visit Korea for the first time to participate in BIAF2026 and present a special masterclass.
Hazanavicius’s animated feature, The Most Precious of Cargoes, will be presented in Korea for the first time as a BIAF Premiere. Officially selected for Competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, the film marked Hazanavicius’s first venture into feature animation and a new chapter in his filmmaking career.
The special exhibition will also screen Funan, winner of the Cristal for a Feature Film at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, featuring Bérénice Bejo as the voice of the lead character.
Presented with the support of the Embassy of France to the Republic of Korea, the 140th anniversary sponsor committee, Unifrance, and COCOMICS, the special exhibition celebrates the history and contemporary achievements of French cinema and animation while highlighting the enduring cultural ties between Korea and France.

Michel Hazanavicius
Michel Hazanavicius gained international recognition with The Artist, his acclaimed tribute to silent cinema. The film was officially selected for Competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and went on to win five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Original Score, and Best Costume Design.
He subsequently directed the Cannes Competition titles The Search (2014) and Redoubtable (2017), as well as Final Cut (2022), which opened the Cannes Film Festival.
In 2024, Hazanavicius returned to Cannes Competition with The Most Precious of Cargoes, his first animated feature. The film marked a new creative departure for the director, extending his distinctive cinematic vision from live action into animation.

Bérénice Bejo
Bérénice Bejo gained international recognition for her role as Peppy Miller in The Artist. She won the César Award for Best Actress for the film and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
She later won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival for The Past (2013). Her subsequent filmography includes The Search (2014), Redoubtable (2017), and The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir (2018).
In animation, she provided the voice of the lead character in Funan, bringing emotional depth and nuance to the story of a mother searching for her son during the Khmer Rouge regime. The film won the Cristal for a Feature Film at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.


French Special Exhibition “Twinkle Twinkle France”
Feature Film Line-up

The Most Precious of Cargoes
France | 2024 | Director: Michel Hazanavicius
A moving story of human kindness and hope, centered on a woodcutter’s wife who saves a baby amid war and poverty.

The Artist
France | 2011 | Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Winner of five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Original Score, and Best Costume Design. A celebrated tribute to silent cinema and a love letter to filmmaking.

Funan
Belgium, Cambodia, France, Luxembourg | 2018 | Director: Denis Do
Winner of the Cristal for a Feature Film at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. The film portrays the survival and love of a family separated from their son under the Khmer Rouge regime.

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
France, Luxembourg, Canada, Netherlands | 2022 | Director: Pierre Földes
Based on short stories by Haruki Murakami, the film explores fractured lives, human relationships, loneliness, and recovery in the aftermath of an earthquake through a distinctive animated style.


The 28th Bucheon International Animation Festival (BIAF2026) will take place from October 23 (Fri) to October 27 (Tue), 2026, in Bucheon, Korea.