Oscars’ Best International Film category has complicated history and remains contentious

BACK IN 2019, when Vulture asked Bong Joon-Ho how he felt about the fact that South Korea has never won an Oscar before, he shrugged and called the Oscars, “very local.”

His film, “Parasite,” went on to win four Academy Awards in 2020. Despite this plethora of wins, Bong’s observation is backed up by data. The Oscars remain largely inaccessible to films made outside of the United States beyond the category of Best International Film. Even in that category, the nominees and winners remain complicated, an analysis of 66 years of awards data shows.