Actress Lee Joo-young has opened up about the 12-minute standing ovation the Broker cast received at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.

The actress recently appeared on an episode of SBS Power FM’s Cine Town segment, where she spoke about what it was like to be part of the Broker cast at the annual film festival. “It felt so unreal,” Lee, who plays Detective Lee in the film, said of the experience, per SBS News.

“I had a feeling that Song Kang-ho [who plays the character Sang-hyeon in Broker] would be named ‘Best Actor’ for his performance, so I kind of looked forward to that,” she added. “I was still surprised that he actually won. When he won, I was like ,‘Whoa…’, while I was on screen at the time. I felt honored to be part of the team with him.”

Later, Lee also shared what it was like to be on the receiving end of the 12-minute standing ovation for Broker. “From the moment we stepped on the red carpet to the time we entered the theater, people around us gave us a round of applause,” she explained.

“Then we were awarded a 12-minute standing ovation at the end of our movie,” Lee added, before sharing more about how she and co-star IU reacted. “I’ve only heard about these long-standing ovations, so it was [an] amazing experience for me. At the time, IU and I were like ‘How long is this going to go on?’”

Broker marks acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda’s first-ever Korean-language film, which will premiere in competition at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival next month. Kore-eda previously bagged the Palme d’Or prize at the festival for Shoplifters in 2018.

Featuring a star-studded cast – including Song, Lee, IU, Bae Doo-na (The Silent Sea, Sense8) and Gang Dong-won (Peninsula) – Broker follows Sang-hyun, who sets up a baby box where parents are able to anonymously leave their babies for him find new parents for.