‘Parasite’ Can’t Stop Winning Awards, Picking Up 10 Nominations at the Asian Film Awards

Remember when Parasite won Best Picture at the Oscars earlier this year? That may have been the last good thing to happen in 2020, before the world descended into the hell that we currently live in. But while the rest of the world has had a pretty bad year, Parasite continues to have one great one, picking up even more awards nominations on top of its historic Oscar wins, this time at the Asian Film Awards.

We can pretend, for a brief moment, that we’re back in February 2020, riding high off the historic Oscar wins for Bong Joon-ho‘s Parasite, which had scored four wins, including Best Picture, making it the first non-English film in history to win the Academy’s top trophy. Because Parasite is back to its winning streak again (or at least its most nominated streak), leading the race at this year’s Asian Film Awards, where it picked up a whopping 10 nominations, including best film, best director and best screenplay.

It’s been an amazing year and a half for Parasite, which won the prestigious Cannes Palme D’or right off the bat when it premiered at the film festival in May 2019, continuing to rack up acclaim and awards over the next year. And the party never stops for Parasite, which leads the 14th Asian Film Awards, which will be held in South Korea for the first time since the prize ceremony’s inception in 2007. A fitting homecoming (again) for the South Korean filmmaker, Bong.

Parasite‘s closest competitors are Wang Xiaoshuai’s drama So Long, My Son from mainland China, and the Taiwan drama A Sun by Chung Mong-hong, both of which scored seven nominations including best film and best director. A total of 39 films from 11 countries and regions are competing for the awards, organizers of the Asian Film Awards announced Wednesday.

Founded by the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society, the Asian Film Awards have typically been held in Hong Kong and Macau. In 2013, three major film festivals in Asia (Busan, Hong Kong and Tokyo) teamed up to launch the non-profit AFA Academy, whose mission is to promote Asian film culture, and to jointly organize the awards, Variety reports. The Asian Film Awards was set to be held in March, but moved to October to coincide with the Busan festival. It turned out to be a good decision, with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic causing travel problems around the Asia region. The Asian Film Awards will still be held virtually.

The Asian Film Awards will be hosted from Busan, accessed live is the AFA Academy’s YouTube channel. The presentations will be made on October 14, 2020.