With Oppenheimer and Barbie dominating this morning’s Oscar nomination reveal, several movies with prominent Asian American casts or crews netted nominations of their own.
A movie about two childhood sweethearts reuniting decades later scored two nods. The Academy announced Past Lives from director Celine Song received nominations for best picture and best original screenplay. However, actress Greta Lee and Teo Yoo were overlooked.
Lee received 43 nominations and five wins from the Critics Choice Awards, Ghent International Film Festival, Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Hawaii Film Critics Society, and Hollywood Critics Association.
Yoo received 11 total nominations and three wins in the acting category for Past Lives. His wins include the Ghent International Film Festival, New Mexico Film Critics and Blue Dragon Awards.
Past Lives has also won best picture from the National Society of Film Critics.
The documentary short, Nai Nai and Wai Po, earned a nomination in the category of best documentary short. The film from Sean Wang tells the story of Wang’s maternal and paternal grandmothers. Disney Plus acquired the film in November.
Elemental, another Disney film, this one from Pixar, received a nomination for best animated feature film. Directed by Pete Sohn, the flick centers around issues of identity, othering, and immigration.
It will go up against Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse which features the voice of Filipino American actress, Hailee Steinfeld. Other nominees in the category include The Boy and the Heron, Nimona and Robot Dreams.
The Japanese production Godzilla Minus One earned recognition in the category of visual effects. Originally released in Japan, it received a domestic release in the United States in December. Also nominated in the category are The Creator, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Mission: Impossible- Dead Reckoning Part One and Napoleon.
Nominees in the category of Best Picture also include American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie, The Holdovers, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro, Oppenheimer, Poor Things and The Zone of Interest.
Also in the category of best original screenplay are Anatomy of a Fall, The Holdovers, Maestro and May December.
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