Non-English language films swept the Oscar awards this year, with five foreign-language films taking home statuettes, which is the highest number ever achieved in a single ceremony.
The Academy Award for Best Screenplay Justine Triet and Arthur Harari for the courtroom drama in French Anatomy of a Fallfollowed previous non-English language winners, Parasite (2019) from Bong Joon-ho, Talk To Her (2002) Pedro Almodovar and A Man and a Woman of Claude Lelouch and Pierre Uytterhoeven (1966).
The Academy Award for Best Sound for the German-language Holocaust drama Jonathan Glazer, The Zone of Interest, marked the first prize for a non-English language film. The drama also won the award for Best International Feature Film.
The Oscar for best animation for The Boy and the Heron marked a second Academy Award for the master of Japanese animation Hayao Miyazakiwho co-directed credits with Toshio Suzuki.
Miyazaki already triumphed in the category in its second year of existence in 2002 with Spirited Away. He is the only director to date who has taken home the statuette for a non-English animation, although foreign language titles are usually nominated in this category.
In other categories, the documentary in Russian, Ukrainian and English by the Ukrainian director Mstyslav Chernov 20 days in Mariupol took the award for Best Documentary.
Four of this year’s five Best Documentary nominees were international films, and all five films had international themes.
However, once again, even though documentaries in languages other than English are regularly nominated, they rarely win the top prize.
Godzilla Minus One made history
Elsewhere in the awards, Godzilla Minus Onefrom the Japanese director Takashi Yamazakimade history as the first non-English language film to win the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
This year’s Academy Awards were already buzzing for non-English-language productions at the nomination stage after Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest They got nominations for Best Picture and Best Director.
Other non-English language films that earned nominations outside of the international category included The Snow Society in Spanish, Robot Dreams and The Count by Pablo Larraín.
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
