Jeon Do-yeon wins Cannes best actress for Lee Chang-dong's Secret Sunshine

At the Cannes Film Festival in May 2007, South Korean actress Jeon Do-yeon won the best actress prize for her role in Secret Sunshine, directed by Lee Chang-dong. The award was announced at the closing ceremony on 27 May. She was the first Korean actress to win an acting prize at Cannes.

The film follows Shin-ae, a young widow who moves with her son to Miryang, her late husband's hometown, to start over. After a devastating loss, she turns to a local Christian congregation and then struggles with questions of forgiveness, faith and anger. Song Kang-ho co-starred as a local mechanic who quietly stays close to her.

The win mattered for several reasons. It confirmed Lee, a former novelist who had served as South Korea's culture minister in the early 2000s, as a leading international auteur. It also marked a high point for Korean cinema's growing reputation at major festivals, before later successes such as Bong Joon-ho and Park Chan-wook's international breakthroughs. Jeon's raw, unguarded performance became a benchmark for Lee's later work with actors.