Through 'Parasite,' which made new history at the Academy Awards, hoping the Korean Wave expands to North and South America...

Seoul City Council Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee Chair Kim Chang-won Welcomes Film Parasite's Four Academy Awards...Expresses Respect

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Kim Chang-won, Chairman of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee of the Seoul Metropolitan Council (Democratic Party, Dobong 3), welcomed the award of 'Parasite,' which won four major awards including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, USA on the morning of the 10th, as the first non-English language film to achieve this. He expressed his respect for raising the status of Korean cinema and prompting a reevaluation of the level of Korean culture.

'Parasite' made history as the first Korean film to be nominated for the final awards, winning Best Picture as a film made in a non-English language, as an Asian film, as a nominee for the main awards, and as a foreign film winning both Best Picture and Best Director simultaneously, rewriting the history of the Academy Awards beyond the Korean film industry.

Moreover, it is the first time in 101 years of Korean film history and a remarkable achievement winning an award 58 years after Korean films were first submitted to the Academy since 1962.

The film 'Parasite' depicts the story of the Ki-taek family, all unemployed and struggling to make ends meet but close-knit, whose eldest son Ki-woo takes a high-paying tutoring job at the Park family’s house, leading to ensuing events. The film deeply and entertainingly addresses the global issues of wealth disparity, invisible class stratification, and the symbiotic problems of these two families within a shared boundary.

Since 2015, Seoul has been providing budget support for four major projects related to film under the 'Comprehensive Plan for the Development of Seoul's Film Culture Industry,' including the establishment of the Seoul Cinematheque, support for film festivals held in Seoul, attraction and activation of filming in Seoul, and the creation of infrastructure for the video industry.

Chairman Kim Chang-won said, “I am very pleased to share the emotion of rewriting the history of the Academy Awards in our time,” adding, “With the rising wave of Hallyu through K-POP, Seoul has previously focused on promoting itself mainly in China and Southeast Asia, but with the award of 'Parasite' and the Academy Awards, interest has increased in the Americas as well. I hope this will lead to an increase in tourists, which had slowed due to the novel coronavirus.”

He also said, “It is regrettable that 'Absent Memory,' a documentary short about the Sewol ferry disaster, was nominated but did not win, but it is meaningful as it provided an opportunity for the world to remember the sacrifice of our children,” emphasizing the need to work so that all children in the world can grow up in safer environments.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.