Bong Joon Ho's 'Parasite' is first South Korean film to win international feature Oscar
Los Angeles: Director Bong Joon Ho's "Parasite" scripted history at the Oscars by becoming the first South Korean film to be nominated and win in the international feature category at the 92nd Academy Awards.
It was the second Oscar win of the night for the film, a twisted class satire that defies genres in trademark Bong style. The director and his co-scribe Han Jin-won have already received the best original screenplay Oscar.
The director lauded the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for renaming the category in an attempt to be more inclusive.
"The category has a new name now from best foreign language to best international feature film. I'm so happy to be its first recipient under the new name. I applaud and support the new direction that this change symbolises," the director said.
"I'm bloody ready to drink tonight," he added amid a round of applause and laughter from the audience.
It is yet to be seen whether the film, which entered the competition with six nominations, manages to win the top awards of the ceremony, the best picture and director but its win in the international category was a sure shot.
South Korea has been submitting its entries for the award, which was earlier called best foreign language film, since 1962.
"Parasite" was pitted against "Pain and Glory" (Spain), "Les Miserables" (France), "Corpus Christi" (Poland) and "Honeyland" (North Macedonia).
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NDA's win in Bihar Assembly bypolls a matter of concern: Prashant Kishor
Patna, Nov 23: Political strategist turned activist Prashant Kishor on Saturday dubbed as "a matter of concern" the NDA's win in assembly by-polls in Bihar despite "failure" of the BJP-led coalition to end the state's chronic backwardness during it's decades-long rule.
Talking to reporters here shortly after the results were out, Kishor also drew succour from the fact that his fledgling Jan Suraaj won "10 per cent" of the total votes polled in four seats, but rubbished the claim that it had played a role in the RJD's defeat in three of these.
"RJD is a 30-year-old party. The son of its state president finished third. Can Jan Suraaj be faulted for that? In Belaganj all Muslim votes went to the JD(U) candidate. In Imamganj, the Jan Suraaj cut into NDA votes. Else, the victory margin of (Union minister) Jitan Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha would have been bigger", asserted Kishor.
Notably, Imamganj, a reserved seat, was retained by Manjhi's daughter-in-law Deepa, who defeated the RJD candidate by a thin margin of less than 6,000 votes. Jan Suraaj candidate Jitendra Paswan finished third, polling more than 37,000 votes.
When pointed out that in three of the four seats, candidates of Jan Suraaj had polled less than one-sixth of the total votes and ran the risk of losing their deposits, Kishor shot back "That should not be a matter of concern (chinta ki baat). If there is a matter of concern, it is the ability of the NDA to make a clean sweep despite having ruled Bihar for so long and "failed" to end the state's backwardness".
The IPAC founder, who had a brief stint in the JD(U), insisted that the party's supremo Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of Bihar, was a "spent force" and its candidate, former MLC Manorama Devi, had won on her own steam.
"We have always said that our fight is with NDA, not with RJD despite its claim of being the largest party in Bihar.....(but) Nitish Kumar is no factor. His party polled just about 11 per cent of total votes", said Kishor.
About his own party's inability to make a mark, Kishor said "We have secured 10 per cent votes..... in seats where Jan Suraaj had no presence since these areas were yet to be covered by my padyatra. Also, please note that we got our poll symbol after filing of nomination papers was over".
He also maintained that the Jan Suraaj will go solo in the assembly polls due next year when it will contest "all 243 seats".
"We were initially written off but by garnering about 10 per cent votes, in a state known to vote along predictable caste lines, we have proved a point. In the next few months we shall be strengthening the organization to ensure that vote share of the Jan Suraaj improves", he said.
