Parasite becomes the 1st Korean movie to win the Best International Feature Film Oscar

Parasite
(Image credit: CJ Entertainment)

Whether or not Parasite wins Best Picture at Sunday's Oscars, it's already made history.

Bong Joon-ho's acclaimed thriller just won the Oscar for Best International Feature Film, becoming the first South Korean movie to ever take that prize. Believe it or not, it was also the first South Korean movie to ever be nominated for Best International Feature Film. Burning seemed likely to make that history last year, but it was surprisingly snubbed. Earlier in the night, Parasite also won Best Original Screenplay.

In his acceptance speech, Bong said "I applaud and support the new direction" symbolized by the Academy changing the name of this Oscar, which used to be Best Foreign Language Film.

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"I'm ready to drink tonight," Bong added to massive applause.

There have been plenty of Parasite firsts throughout this awards season, as the film previously became the first South Korean movie to win Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globes. It also won Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, becoming the first foreign-language film to win that prize, and it became the first South Korean movie to win the Palme d'or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Parasite is also up for Best Picture at Sunday's Oscars, where it's looking to pull off an upset over the favorite, 1917. Were it to do so, it would become the first foreign-language movie to ever win Best Picture.

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Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.