Director Hong Sang-soo has won the top prize at the Cannes International Film Festival's sidebar competition, Un Certain Regard, for his film "Ha Ha Ha."

If the film is distributed in France, he will receive a subsidy of 30 thousand euros.

Hong in his acceptance speech thanked his cast and staff for trusting him and following his direction under a difficult production environment and passed the honor to them.

"Ha Ha Ha" is a drunken trip down memory lane as a filmmaker prepares to leave Korea to immigrate to Canada. The movie is considered to be the most appealing of Hong's films to a general audience.

The film is also one of three Korean entries in the official selection at Cannes this year.