Former I.O.I star Kim Do-yeon heads to Cannes with July Jung's 'Dora'

July Jung is heading back to Cannes, and this time she's bringing a K-pop star with her.

"Dora," Jung's third feature, has been selected for Directors' Fortnight at this year's Cannes Film Festival, the independent sidebar's organizing committee announced Tuesday.

A co-production between France, South Korea and Luxembourg, the film follows a young woman dealing with physical and emotional trauma who finds herself falling in love. It stars Kim Do-yeon alongside Japanese actress Sakura Ando, who is making her first appearance in a Korean production.

Many fans will know Kim from her years in K-pop: first as a member of I.O.I, the project group formed out of the Mnet competition show "Produce 101" in 2016, and later as part of Weki Meki, which disbanded in 2024.

The 26-year-old has since pivoted to acting full-time, and last year took home best new actress at the Blue Dragon Film Awards for her lead role in the horror comedy "Idiot Girls and School Ghost: School Anniversary."

Starring alongside her is Ando, widely regarded as one of Japan's most decorated film actresses of her generation.

The 40-year-old has won the Japanese Academy Film Prize for best actress three times and has previously attended Cannes with Kore-eda Hirokazu's "Monster" (2023) and his Palme d'Or-winning "Shoplifters" (2018).

For Jung, the selection marks her third Cannes appearance across three features.

Her debut, "A Girl at My Door," starring Bae Doo-na and the late Kim Sae-ron, screened in Un Certain Regard in 2014; "Next Sohee" followed in 2022 as the closing film of Critics' Week. Both films centered on women and girls exposed to violence.

The 78th Cannes Film Festival runs May 13 to 24 on the French Riviera.