If the average viewer was asked for some of the best film releases as of late, joining the likes of Avengers and Oppenheimer would likely be Parasite. International media has grown in popularity, particularly with the younger audience, exponentially in recent years. While massive franchises like Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe dominate the box office, foreign films have seen a major rise in public interest. Several Korean and Japanese movies have taken both the box office and social media by storm with many of them trending on X, formally known as Twitter, and several having found success at prestigious award ceremonies.
When the 92nd Academy Awards came around in early 2020, the world of cinema was forever changed with the resounding success of Bong Joon Ho’s smash hit Parasite. The Korean film made waves at the Oscars, taking home four awards, Best Picture, Best Director, Best International Feature Film, and Best Original Screenplay, alongside a further two nominations for Best Film Editing and Best Production Design. With the release and subsequent praise of Parasite, public interest in foreign films saw a massive increase, and both international feature films and foreign language films have been thriving ever since.
Now, in a post-Parasite world, the amount of these movies that have experienced great success has only grown more and more as the years go on. Last year saw the release of several major hits in both fiction and non-fiction, including Justine Triet’s French crime drama Anatomy of a Fall, Jonathan Glazer’s British historical drama The Zone of Interest and Mstyslav Chernov’s Ukrainian war documentary 20 Days in Mariupol. Similar to Parasite, each of these films found great success at the Academy Awards, with Anatomy of a Fall winning Best Original Screenplay, The Zone of Interest winning both Best International Feature Film and Best Sound, and 20 Days in Mariupol winning Best Documentary Feature Film. American films with heavy use of foreign languages have also grown more common and widely accepted, with Celine Song’s Past Lives being nominated for Best Picture alongside major english language productions like Chrisopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. Prior to this past year, Edward Berger’s adaptation of classic German war film and novel All Quiet on the Western Front hit Netflix in October 2022 and found remarkable success, winning several different categories at the 2023 Oscars including Best International Feature Film, Best Music, and more, alongside nominations in major categories such as Best Picture.
Venturing into the realm of animation, international productions have become some of the most widely beloved and well regarded films in the industry. This past year, Hayao Miyazaki’s adventure drama The Boy and the Heron released as the newest movie from the renowned Japanese Director, and the film received the award for Best Animated Feature Film at the most recent Academy Awards. Another Japanese director, Makoto Shinkai, has also been releasing many major hits including Your Name, Weathering with You, and Suzume, all of which have experienced incredible critical and commercial success.
Included in the list of recent success stories are many of our own films here at WWMPC. Some of our most recent releases such as Imogen Thomas’s heartwarming Australian indie film Emu Runner, Juan Vicente Chuliá’s documentary Dancers, and Akan Satayev’s Kazakhstani drama The Road to Mother have all found remarkable success at film festivals and award shows alike. Our newest film slated for release early next year is academy award winner Bille August’s Danish romance and war drama The Kiss which has also received a nomination at the prestigious Danish Film Awards alongside several wins and nominations at film festivals across Europe.
