South Korea’s Parasite in Oscars best foreign film shortlist

Ten international films, including the widely acclaimed South Korean offering, Parasite, are on the shortlist of movies vying for Academy Award nominations this year.

The best international feature shortlist announced on Monday by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences includes Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, Pedro Almodovar’s semi-autobiographical Pain and Glory and Atlantics, Senegal’s entry from history-making director Mati Diop.

Parasite, which won the Palme d’Or top prize at Cannes this year, has been generating strong Oscar buzz as awards season heats up.

The class warfare movie about a family of clever scammers from South Korea’s underbelly has already picked up three Golden Globe nominations, including best director and best screenplay.

Bong is also nominated for best original song category, for his composition, A Glass of Soju for the film.

Senegal’s Diop also became the first black woman to compete for the prize at Cannes, and her film Atlantics eventually landed the festival’s Grand Prix honour.

If Parasite or Atlantics receive the prize, they would mark the first for South Korea and Senegal, respectively.

It is the first year the Oscar will be awarded under a new name: best international feature film. The category was previously known as the best foreign-language film.

The other short-listed films are: the Czech Republic’s The Painted Bird; Estonia’s Truth and Justice; France’s Les Miserables; Hungary’s Those Who Remained; North Macedonia’s Honeyland; Poland’s Corpus Christi and Russia’s Beanpole.

The shortlist was chosen from 91 eligible films.

The film academy announced nine shortlists on Monday in categories including best documentary feature, visual effects and original song.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which will be released on Friday, appears on two shortlists for best original score and visual effects. Also on the visual effects shortlist are the blockbuster Avengers: Endgame and the upcoming musical Cats.

No song from Cats made the original song shortlist, but two songs from The Lion King did: Elton John’s Never Too Late and Spirit by Beyonce.

Nominations for the 92nd annual Academy Awards will be announced on January 13. The Oscars will be held on February 9 in Los Angeles.