‘Parasite’ was named Best Picture at the Academy Awards on Sunday (09.02.20).
The South Korean thriller became the first non-English language film to win the prestigious accolade ahead of ‘Marriage Story’, ‘Ford v Ferrari’, ‘The Irishman’, ‘Jojo Rabbit’, ‘Joker’, ‘Little Women’, ‘Marriage Story’, ‘1917’, and ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’.
Accepting the honour on stage at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre alongside other members of the cast and crew, producer Kwak Sin-ae said through a translator: "I’m speechless. We never imagined this would ever happen, we are so happy. I feel like a very opportune moment in history is happening right now.
"I express my deepest gratitude and respect to the Academy for making this decision."
Actress Miki Lee then took the microphone to pay tribute to director Bong Joon-ho.
She said: "Thank you for being you, I like everything about him. his smile, his crazy hair, the way he talks, the way he walks and especially the way he directs.
"What I really like about him is his sense of humour and he can make fun of himself and never takes himself seriously, thank you very much."
Miki went on to thank Korean cinemagoers who are "never afraid to give a straightforward opinion".
She added: "I really, really want to thank our Korean audience, our movie goers who have been really supporting our movies and are never afraid to give us a straightforward opinion.
"That made us never be able to be complacent and keep pushing the envelopes, without you our Korean film audience we are not here, thank you very much."
The win marked the fourth of the night for the film, as it also took Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and International Feature Film.
Parasite wins Best Picture
