It was a historic day for Korean cinema as the nominations for the 91st Academy Awards were announced earlier today. Kicking things off was “In the Absence” by Yi Seung-jun and Gary Byung-seok Kam, a documentary on the tragic sinking of MV Sewol ferry in 2014, which was nominated in the Best Documentary Short Subject category. A short while later, “Parasite” took centre stage. And let's not forget two more Asian Titles within the nominations, the feature Documentaries “The Cave” by Feras Fayyad and “For Sama” by Waad Al-Kateab & Edward Watts, and finally the Award-Winning Stop-Motion Animation “Sister” by Siqi Song.
The Bong Joon-ho directed thriller made history once again by becoming the first Korean film to be nominated for Best Picture, while Bogn also became the first Korean director to be nominated for Best Director. The film ended the nominations announcement ceremony with six nominations in all, including three of the so-called “big categories”. Here are all the categories and the films that it will compete against for each category:
Best Picture
- “1917”
- “Ford v Ferrari”
- “The Irishman”
- “Jojo Rabbit”
- “Joker”
- “Little Women”
- “Marriage Story”
- “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”
- “Parasite”
Best Director
- Bong Joon Ho (“Parasite”)
- Sam Mendes (“1917”)
- Todd Phillips (“Joker”)
- Martin Scorsese (“The Irishman”)
- Quentin Tarantino (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”)
Original Screenplay
- “Knives Out,” Rian Johnson
- “Marriage Story,” Noah Baumbach
- “1917,” Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns
- “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood,” Quentin Tarantino
- “Parasite,” Bong Joon-ho and Jin Won Han
International Film
- “Corpus Christi,” Poland
- “Honeyland,” North Macdeonia
- “Les Miserables,” France
- “Pain and Glory,” Spain
- “Parasite,” South Korea
Best Documentary
- “American Factory”, USA
- “The Cave”, Syria
- “The Edge of Democracy”, Brazil
- “For Sama”, UK, USA, Syria
- “Honeyland”. Macedonia
Film Editing
- Michael McCusker and Andrew Buckland, “Ford Vs. Ferrari”
- Tom Eagles, “Jojo Rabbit”
- Thelma Schoonmaker, “The Irishman”
- Jeff Groth, “Joker”
- Yang Jinmo, “Parasite”
Production Design
- Production Design: Bob Shaw; Set Decoration: Regina Graves, “The Irishman”
- Production Design: Ra Vincent; Set Decoration: Nora Sopková, “Jojo Rabbit”
- Production Design: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales, “1917”
- Production Design: Barbara Ling; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh, “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood”
- Production Design: Lee Ha Jun; Set Decoration: Cho Won Woo, “Parasite”
Best Animated Short
- “Dcera” (Daughter)
- “Hair Love”
- “Kitbull”
- “Memorable”
- “Sister”
The winners of the 92nd Academy Awards will be announced on February 9th, 2020.
