92nd Academy Awards

International Feature Film 92nd Awards – PARASITE (South Korea)

The best Foreign Language Film at the 92nd Academy Awards was South Korea’s “Parasite” directed by Bong Joon Ho. It is the first to win since this category was renamed International Feature Film Award and was the first nomination for South Korea.

“Parasite” is also the first foreign language film to win “best picture” and also won the Academy Awards for best director (Bong Joon Ho), and best original screenplay (screenplay by Bong Joon Ho, Han Jin Won; Story by Bong Joon Ho)

The five films nominated for best international feature film at the 92nd Academy awards were:

  • “Corpus Christi” Poland, Jan Komasa, director;
  • “Honeyland” North Macedonia, Ljubo Stefanov, Tamara Kotevska, directors;
  • “Les Misérables” France, Ladj Ly, director;
  • “Pain and Glory” Spain, Pedro Almodóvar, director;
  • “Parasite” South Korea, Bong Joon Ho, director.

Nomination Facts – Best International Feature Film 2020

Corpus Christi (Poland) [Directed by Jan Komasa.] – This is the twelfth nomination for Poland. Previous nominations were for Knife in the Water (1963), Pharaoh (1966), The Deluge (1974), Land of Promise (1975), Nights and Days (1976), The Maids of Wilko (1979), Man of Iron (1981), Katyn (2007), In Darkness (2011), Cold War (2018) and Ida, which won the award for 2014.

Honeyland (North Macedonia) [Directed by Ljubo Stefanov and Tamara Kotevksa.] – This is the second nomination for North Macedonia. The previous nomination was for Before the Rain (1994).

Les Misérables (France) [Directed by Ladj Ly.] – This is the 38th nomination for France. It has taken home nine Oscars for My Uncle (1958), Black Orpheus (1959), Sundays and Cybele (1962), A Man and a Woman (1966), The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972), Day for Night (1973), Madame Rosa (1977), Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (1978) and Indochine (1992). Additionally, France received three Special/Honorary Awards prior to the establishment of Foreign Language Film as a regular category in 1956: for Monsieur Vincent (1948), The Walls of Malapaga (1950) [shared with Italy] and Forbidden Games (1952). Other nominations were for Gervaise (1956), Gates of Paris (1957), La Vérité (1960), The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), Live for Life (1967), Stolen Kisses (1968), My Night at Maud’s (1969), Hoa-Binh (1970), Lacombe, Lucien (1974), Cousin, Cousine (1976), A Simple Story (1979), The Last Metro (1980), Coup de Torchon (“Clean Slate”) (1982), Entre Nous (1983), Three Men and a Cradle (1985), Betty Blue (1986), Au Revoir Les Enfants (Goodbye, Children) (1987), Camille Claudel (1989), Cyrano de Bergerac (1990), Ridicule (1996), East-West (1999), The Taste of Others (2000), Amélie (2001), The Chorus (Les Choristes) (2004), Joyeux Noël (2005), The Class (2008), A Prophet (2009) and Mustang (2015).

Pain and Glory (Spain) [Directed by Pedro Almodóvar.] – This is the 20th nomination for Spain. It has won the award four times: for Volver a Empezar (1982), Belle Epoque (1993), All about My Mother (1999) and The Sea Inside (2004). Other nominations were for La Venganza (1958), Placido (1961), Los Tarantos (1963), El Amor Brujo (1967), Tristana (1970), My Dearest Señorita (1972), That Obscure Object of Desire (1977), Mama Turns a Hundred (1979), The Nest (1980), Carmen (1983), Double Feature (1984), Course Completed (1987), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), Secrets of the Heart (1997) and The Grandfather (1998).

Parasite (South Korea) [Directed by Bong Joon Ho.] – This is the first nomination for South Korea.

Ten films were previously shortlisted for the International Feature Film category for the 92nd Academy Awards.

Until the 92nd Academy Awards, Academy members from all branches were invited to participate in the preliminary round.  They must have viewed the submitted films theatrically and met a minimum viewing requirement to be eligible to vote in the category. From the 93rd Academy Awards all eligible Academy members are  now invited to participate in the preliminary round of voting.  For the first time, film submissions are made available through the Academy Screening Room streaming platform to those members who opt-in.  These members of the International Feature Film Preliminary Voting committee must still meet a minimum viewing requirement in order to be eligible to vote in the category.

This committee will make seven choices, that are augmented by three additional selections voted by the Academy’s International Feature Film Award Executive Committee, to constitute the shortlist.

In the nominations round, Academy members from all branches are then invited to opt-in to participate and must view all 10 shortlisted films in order to cast a ballot.

The ten films, listed in alphabetical order by country, that were nominated for the 92nd Awards were:

  1. Czech Republic, “The Painted Bird,” Václav Marhoul, director;
  2. Estonia, “Truth and Justice,” Tanel Toom, director;
  3. France, “Les Misérables,” Ladj Ly, director;
  4. Hungary, “Those Who Remained,” Barnabás Tóth, director;
  5. North Macedonia, “Honeyland,” Ljubo Stefanov, Tamara Kotevska, directors;
  6. Poland, “Corpus Christi,” Jan Komasa, director;
  7. Russia, “Beanpole,” Kantemir Balagov, director;
  8. Senegal, “Atlantics,” Mati Diop, director;
  9. South Korea, “Parasite,” Bong Joon Ho, director;
  10. Spain, “Pain and Glory,” Pedro Almodóvar, director;

Ninety-three countries submitted films for consideration in the International Feature Film category for the 92nd Academy Awards. Ghana, Nigeria and Uzbekistan are first-time entrants. The 2019 submissions, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:

  • Albania, “The Delegation,” Bujar Alimani, director;
  • Algeria, “Papicha,” Mounia Meddour, director;
  • Argentina, “Heroic Losers,” Sebastián Borensztein, director;
  • Armenia, “Lengthy Night,” Edgar Baghdasaryan, director;
  • Australia, “Buoyancy,” Rodd Rathjen, director;
  • Austria, “Joy,” Sudabeh Mortezai, director;
  • Bangladesh, “Alpha,” Nasiruddin Yousuff, director;
  • Belarus, “Debut,” Anastasiya Miroshnichenko, director;
  • Belgium, “Our Mothers,” César Díaz, director;
  • Bolivia, “I Miss You,” Rodrigo Bellott, director;
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina, “The Son,” Ines Tanovic, director;
  • Brazil, “Invisible Life,” Karim Aïnouz, director;
  • Bulgaria, “Ága,” Milko Lazarov, director;
  • Cambodia, “In the Life of Music,” Caylee So, Sok Visal, directors;
  • Canada, “Antigone,” Sophie Deraspe, director;
  • Chile, “Spider,” Andrés Wood, director;
  • China, “Ne Zha,” Yu Yang, director;
  • Colombia, “Monos,” Alejandro Landes, director;
  • Costa Rica, “The Awakening of the Ants,” Antonella Sudasassi Furniss, director;
  • Croatia, “Mali,” Antonio Nuic, director;
  • Cuba, “A Translator,” Rodrigo Barriuso, Sebastián Barriuso, directors;
  • Czech Republic, “The Painted Bird,” Václav Marhoul, director;
  • Denmark, “Queen of Hearts,” May el-Toukhy, director;
  • Dominican Republic, “The Projectionist,” José María Cabral, director;
  • Ecuador, “The Longest Night,” Gabriela Calvache, director;
  • Egypt, “Poisonous Roses,” Ahmed Fawzi Saleh, director;
  • Estonia, “Truth and Justice,” Tanel Toom, director;
  • Ethiopia, “Running against the Wind,” Jan Philipp Weyl, director;
  • Finland, “Stupid Young Heart,” Selma Vilhunen, director;
  • France, “Les Misérables,” Ladj Ly, director;
  • Georgia, “Shindisi,” Dimitri Tsintsadze, director;
  • Germany, “System Crasher,” Nora Fingscheidt, director;
  • Ghana, “Azali,” Kwabena Gyansah, director;
  • Greece, “When Tomatoes Met Wagner,” Marianna Economou, director;
  • Honduras, “Blood, Passion, and Coffee,” Carlos Membreño, director;
  • Hong Kong, “The White Storm 2 Drug Lords,” Herman Yau, director;
  • Hungary, “Those Who Remained,” Barnabás Tóth, director;
  • Iceland, “A White, White Day,” Hlynur Pálmason, director;
  • India, “Gully Boy,” Zoya Akhtar, director;
  • Indonesia, “Memories of My Body,” Garin Nugroho, director;
  • Iran, “Finding Farideh,” Azadeh Moussavi, Kourosh Ataee, directors;
  • Ireland, “Gaza,” Garry Keane, Andrew McConnell, directors;
  • Israel, “Incitement,” Yaron Zilberman, director;
  • Italy, “The Traitor,” Marco Bellocchio, director;
  • Japan, “Weathering with You,” Makoto Shinkai, director;
  • Kazakhstan, “Kazakh Khanate. The Golden Throne,” Rustem Abdrashov, director;
  • Kenya, “Subira,” Ravneet Singh (Sippy) Chadha, director;
  • Kosovo, “Zana,” Antoneta Kastrati, director;
  • Kyrgyzstan, “Aurora,” Bekzat Pirmatov, director;
  • Latvia, “The Mover,” Davis Simanis, director;
  • Lebanon, “1982,” Oualid Mouaness, director;
  • Lithuania, “Bridges of Time,” Audrius Stonys, Kristine Briede, directors;
  • Luxembourg, “Tel Aviv on Fire,” Sameh Zoabi, director;
  • Malaysia, “M for Malaysia,” Dian Lee, Ineza Roussille, directors;
  • Mexico, “The Chambermaid,” Lila Avilés, director;
  • Mongolia, “The Steed,” Erdenebileg Ganbold, director;
  • Montenegro, “Neverending Past,” Andro Martinović, director;
  • Morocco, “Adam,” Maryam Touzani, director;
  • Nepal, “Bulbul,” Binod Paudel, director;
  • Netherlands, “Instinct,” Halina Reijn, director;
  • Nigeria, “Lionheart,” Genevieve Nnaji, director;
  • North Macedonia, “Honeyland,” Ljubo Stefanov, Tamara Kotevska, directors;
  • Norway, “Out Stealing Horses,” Hans Petter Moland, director;
  • Pakistan, “Laal Kabootar,” Kamal Khan, director;
  • Palestine, “It Must Be Heaven,” Elia Suleiman, director;
  • Panama, “Everybody Changes,” Arturo Montenegro, director;
  • Peru, “Retablo,” Alvaro Delgado Aparicio, director;
  • Philippines, “Verdict,” Raymund Ribay Gutierrez, director;
  • Poland, “Corpus Christi,” Jan Komasa, director;
  • Portugal, “The Domain,” Tiago Guedes, director;
  • Romania, “The Whistlers,” Corneliu Porumboiu, director;
  • Russia, “Beanpole,” Kantemir Balagov, director;
  • Saudi Arabia, “The Perfect Candidate,” Haifaa Al Mansour, director;
  • Senegal, “Atlantics,” Mati Diop, director;
  • Serbia, “King Petar the First,” Petar Ristovski, director;
  • Singapore, “A Land Imagined,” Yeo Siew Hua, director;
  • Slovakia, “Let There Be Light,” Marko Skop, director;
  • Slovenia, “History of Love,” Sonja Prosenc, director;
  • South Africa, “Knuckle City,” Jahmil X.T. Qubeka, director;
  • South Korea, “Parasite,” Bong Joon Ho, director;
  • Spain, “Pain and Glory,” Pedro Almodóvar, director;
  • Sweden, “And Then We Danced,” Levan Akin, director;
  • Switzerland, “Wolkenbruch’s Wondrous Journey into the Arms of a Shiksa,” Michael Steiner, director;
  • Taiwan, “Dear Ex,” Mag Hsu, Chih-Yen Hsu, directors;
  • Thailand, “Krasue: Inhuman Kiss,” Sitisiri Mongkolsiri, director;
  • Tunisia, “Dear Son,” Mohamed Ben Attia, director;
  • Turkey, “Commitment Asli,” Semih Kaplanoglu, director;
  • Ukraine, “Homeward,” Nariman Aliev, director;
  • United Kingdom, “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind,” Chiwetel Ejiofor, director;
  • Uruguay, “The Moneychanger,” Federico Veiroj, director;
  • Uzbekistan, “Hot Bread,” Umid Khamdamov, director;
  • Venezuela, “Being Impossible,” Patricia Ortega, director;
  • Vietnam, “Furie,” Le Van Kiet, director.