Talking Movies: Asian Cinema Special

Parasite is the first South Korean film to receive Academy Award recognition. It’s a dark comedy thriller of a young man who faked a degree to get hired by a wealthy family. His family soon followed his example, pretending to be experts who do not know each other. Something happens that has them scrambling to keep hold of their new-found income at any cost.

Parasite achieved worldwide press coverage when it won four Academy Awards: Best Picture (1st non-English film to do so), Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film. Its $15 million budget was dwarfed by its $258 million in gross earnings. The success of the film made critics and viewers pay more attention to Asian Cinema.

In Talking Movies: Asian Cinema Special, we discuss Parasite. We also interview its director and co-screenwriter Bong Joon-ho.

We also speak to Cloe Zhao, the screenwriter, director and co-producer of Nomadland, a story of a woman who leaves her small American town to travel the American West. After winning the Golden Lion, the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival, Nomadland looks to be an Oscar contender.

Premiere on Saturday at 12:30 PM on BBC World News (ch 256) from Saturday, 23 January