“Parasite” has made history at the 92nd Academy Awards!
On February 9th, the movie became the first Korean film to ever take home an Academy Award! The movie’s director and writer Bong Joon Ho (“Snowpiercer,” “Okja”) started his night off by winning “Best Original Screenplay” along with co-writer of the screenplay, Jin Won Han. He described the writing process for films as a lonely one, but as he held up his Oscar, he stated that it was a personal win for all of South Korea and that he shared the win with Korea’s many storytellers and filmmakers. In fact, the win for this category wasn’t just a first for a Korean film. It was in fact the first time any Asian film has ever won the coveted Best Original Screenplay award.
To continue the success of the night, Bong Joon Ho went on to win “Best International Feature Film” before claiming the extremely coveted “Best Director” award! When accepting the award for “Best Director” he stated, “When I was young and studying cinema, there was a saying I carved deep into my heart, which is ‘The most personal is the most creative.’ That comes to us from our great Martin Scorsese.” The moment of crowning glory for Bong was made even sweeter due to the fact that he had been up against that same Martin Scorsese in the directing category. At this point, the audience stood to their feet and applauded Scorsese before Bong continued speaking of how he had studied Scorsese’s films and had been inspired by him for so long. The moment seemed almost surreal to the “Parasite” director who seemed genuinely shocked as the award, saying that he thought his previous awards of the evening were his final ones of the night.
#Oscars Moment: Bong Joon Ho accepts the Oscar for Best Directing for @ParasiteMovie. pic.twitter.com/b7t6bYGdzw
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) February 10, 2020
However, that surreal moment was soon followed by the truly historic win when “Parasite” took home the award for “Best Picture.” Winning the highest prize of the night for means that this is the first time that a foreign language film has ever won an Oscar for “Best Picture” since the Academy Awards were first started 92 years ago! The film was up against strong contenders, including its greatest competition of the evening in Sam Mendes’ WWI film “1917,” so the amazing moment was made even sweeter in the end!
Accepting the award were Bong and Kwak Sin Ae, who co-produced the film together. “I’m speechless,” Kwak said seeming overwhelmed with the win.
The historic moment was met with cheers from the crowd and smiles all around as many Hollywood stars and filmmakers have declared themselves fans of both Bong and the movie “Parasite.”
“Parasite” is a biting tale of the class differences in Korea, relaying a story both comedic and dark as the film follows the lives of two very different families. The movie earned high praise from both critics and fans alike. in fact, it previously won a Golden Globe, as well as several other awards from respected film festivals and awards shows. The stunning performances by the cast didn’t go unnoticed either as they also took home a Screen Actors Guild Award for “Best Cast Ensemble.”
Congratulations to Director Bong Joon Ho and the cast and crew of this deserving film. What a great moment for South Korean cinema!
Media: Kevin Winter/Getty Images