The 92nd Academy Awards aired on Sunday, where millions of viewers around the world witnessed history being made in real time. Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite took home some of the biggest awards of the night; Best Director, Best International Feature Film (formerly Best Foreign Language Film), Best Original Screenplay, and the biggest win of the night, Best Picture.
What makes this win so historic is that it marks the first Best Picture recipient that was not in English. Parasite is a South Korean film, featuring an entirely South Korean cast and crew. Not only that, but the film won both the International Feature Film category, and Best Picture, which is a monumental achievement.
Fortunately, Bong Joon Ho was not the only POC to make history Sunday night. Taika Waititi’s win of Best Adapted Screenplay marks the first indigenous person to win an Academy Award. While the diversity of the nominees was almost non-existent, the diversity of the recipients was considerably better than previous years.
After decades of English films winning Best Picture, with all white casts and crews taking home Academy Awards, we can only hope that this win for Parasite is a step in the right direction for the Oscars. With the consideration of international films for the biggest award of the night, this could be the catalyst for a much more diverse lineup of films and nominations from now on.