Parasite's Historic Win

Bong Joon Ho receives the Oscar for Best Picture from Jane Fonda

What a big win for Parasite at the 92nd Academy Awards!!!

Best Original Screenplay. Best International Feature [formerly Best Foreign Language Film]. Best Director. And Best Picture.

Ang Lee won in 1994 for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

How can you top that! And not be a film in English?

Writer, director and producer Bong Joon Ho did just that tonight.

South Koreans are celebrating like there's no tomorrow, and it's reminiscent of 2001 when Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was nominated for 10 Oscars. The xuxia film won Best Foreign Language Film (Ang Lee), Best Art Direction (Timmy Yip), Best Original Score (Tan Dun), and Best Cinematography (Peter Pau).

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon stuck its foot in the Academy door, and now 19 years later, Parasite has walked through without missing a beat.

The wuxia film opened the door for Asian foreign films

Bong's win is not just for South Koreans, it's for any filmmaker whose first language is not English, that they too have a chance to win the coveted golden statue.

The Academy Awards is finally becoming more diverse and it's about time.

It's also a reminder of when singer Bruce Springsteen performed Streets Of Philadelphia for the film Philadelphia for the 1994 Academy Awards.

When he won for Best Original Song, Springsteen said at the end of his speech, "Thank you all for inviting me to your party".

So it's good to see the Oscars not be so cliquey and have a broader range of nominations. 

The cast of Parasite with Bong on the red carpet at the Oscars

We love Bong's speech when he received the Best Director award; he was so gracious, speaking without notes:

"When I was young and studying cinema, there was a saying that I carved deep into my heart, which is that, 'The most personal is the most creative.'

"That quote is from our great Martin Scorsese. When I was at school, I studied Martin Scorsese's films. Just to be nominated was a huge honour. I never thought I would win.

"When people in the US were not familiar with my films, Quentin [Tarantino] always put my films on his list. He's here, thank you so much. Quentin, I love you.

Bong paid tribute to mentor Martin Socorsese

"And Todd [Phillips] and Sam [Mendes], great directors that I admire. If the Academy allows, I would like to get a Texas chainsaw, split the award into five and share it with all of you.

"Thank you. I will drink until next morning, thank you."