Final 2020 Oscar Predictions – INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
Whether it’s critics or the Academy themselves, each of this category (formerly called Foreign Language Film) there seems to be one film that is propped up and held in such high regard that virtually no other film stands a chance (like Roma last year). Few years this decade have given us big surprises and that’s largely due to the evolution of this branch’s format of voting (which used to be far more insular than it is now) and openness to the Academy at large.
This year that film is Parasite, which is not only South Korea’s first nomination in this category, it – along with In the Absence in Documentary Short Subject – is the first time ANY Korean film has ever been nominated for an Academy Award. No one is going to gripe that Parasite will easily win the (first of its name) International Feature Film Oscar but I’m sure many of us wish that the category could be just a little bit more competitive once in a while.
Check out the chart below for the decade of winners in the guilds and awards bodies for International Foreign Feature/Foreign Language Film (where some adherences to release dates throws off wins i.e. Son of Saul).
Here are my ranked Final Oscar predictions for International Feature Film.
| 1. South Korea – Parasite (Neon) | BAFTA, CCA, GG |
| 2. Spain – Pain and Glory (Sony Classics) | BAFTA, CCA, GG |
| 3. France – Les Misérables (Amazon) | CCA, GG |
| 4. North Macedonia – Honeyland (Neon) | N/A |
| 5. Poland – Corpus Christi (Film Movement) | N/A |
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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