In a monumental moment in film history, Parasite took away four Oscars tonight becoming the night’s big winner with the biggest prizes.
It won for best picture, best director, best screenplay and best international film. Parasite done in Korean with English subtitles became the first non-English film in the 92-year-history of the Academy Awards to win the award for best picture.
Producers Kwak Sin Ae and Bong Joon Ho accepted the award with the entire cast.
“I feel like a very opportune moment in history is happening right now,” said Kwak.
Producers tried to cut the acceptance speech short and the crowd responded with hiss and boos and the chant of “up, up, up,” demanding that the houselights be brought back up so the celebration could continue.
LATEST STORIES
Watch what happened here at about 2:45 into this video.
Bong stood in the background allowing Kwak to bask in the moment during the whole acceptance speech. After all he had gotten plenty of screen time earlier, accepting awards for best director, best screenwriting (with Jin Won Han) and best international film.
“I’m ready to drink tonight,” Bong jokes after winning the award for best international film.
“I will be drinking into the morning,” he confessed moments later walking up on stage to accept the award for best director. “After I won best international film, I thought I was done for the night and could relax.”
Bong took time to recognize Martin Scorcese, one of his fellow nominees who he said he studied as a film student. Scorcese blew Bong a kiss in return. He also thanked Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), another best director nominee, who he thanked for including Parasite on his list of best films.
The social satire on class won with a mixture of suspense, intrigue, mystery and dark humor. The unexpected twists kept audiences guessing as it became the highest grossing foreign film in the United States with a box office of more than $35.5 million. Expect that box office to spike in the weeks to come.
Parasite first gained notice after winning the top prize at Cannes in 2019. Perhaps the only disappointment is that none of the cast garnered any nominations from Academy voters. They were recognized, however, as best ensemble cast from the Screen Actors Guild.
Bong did recognize his cast by asking them to stand while he accepted one of his awards. The audience obliged with thunderous applause.
Bong gave a nod to his home country of South Korea declaring “great honor. this is very personal for South Korea,” he said while accepting the award for best screenplay.
AsAmNews has Asian America in its heart. We’re an all-volunteer effort of dedicated staff and interns. Check out our new Instagram account. Go to our Twitter feed and Facebook page for more content. Please consider interning, joining our staff, or submitting a story.
