[2020 Academy] 'Gisaengchung' Dominated the Academy Awards (Summary)

Winner of 4 Awards Including Best Picture, Best Director, International Feature Film, and Best Screenplay
Recorded as the First Foreign Language Film to Reach the Top at the Oscars

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jong-gil] The film Parasite dominated the Academy Awards, marking the first time a Korean film has entered the ceremony. It won four major awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best International Feature Film, and Best Original Screenplay.

On the 9th (local time), at the 92nd Academy Awards held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California, USA, Parasite won Best Picture, beating out Ford v Ferrari, Joker, The Irishman, Jojo Rabbit, Little Women, 1917, and Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood. This is the first time in the 92-year history of the Oscars that a foreign-language film has taken the top prize.

Producer Kwak Sin-ae, CEO of Barunson E&A, was so overwhelmed upon receiving the trophy that she was unable to speak for a while. With continued applause from the audience, she held back tears and said, “I am so happy. I believe this moment is meaningful, symbolic, and timely,” and expressed her respect and gratitude to the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences who made this decision.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Director Bong Joon-ho won Best Director, beating Martin Scorsese for The Irishman, Todd Phillips for Joker, Sam Mendes for 1917, and Quentin Tarantino for Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood. He is the second Asian director to receive this award, following Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain (2006) and Life of Pi (2013).

Holding up the award, Director Bong said, “When I studied film as a child, the phrase ‘the most personal is the most creative’ deeply resonated with me. It was said by Martin Scorsese, who was also nominated alongside me,” drawing a standing ovation from the audience. He thanked and apologized to each of the other nominated directors individually. He then humorously added, “If the Academy allows, I would like to cut this award into five pieces with a Texas chainsaw and share it,” which once again filled the audience with laughter.

Parasite also won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, beating The Painted Bird (Poland), Pain and Glory (Spain), Les Mis?rables (France), and Honeyland (North Macedonia). It was selected as the best feature film made outside the United States.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Including special and honorary awards given between 1947 and 1955, this is the eighth time an Asian film has won. Previous winners include Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon (1951, Japan), Daisuke It?’s Gate of Hell (1954, Japan), Hiroshi Inagaki’s Miyamoto Musashi (1955, Japan), Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2001, Taiwan), Yojiro Takita’s Departures (2009, Japan), and Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation (2012) and The Salesman (2017), both from Iran.

Director Bong also won Best Original Screenplay along with writer Han Jin-won. This is the first time an East Asian has won this award, beating directors such as Rian Johnson for Knives Out, Noah Baumbach for Marriage Story, Sam Mendes for 1917, and Quentin Tarantino for Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood. It is also the first time in 17 years that a foreign-language film has won this award since Pedro Almod?var’s Talk to Her (2002).