While the Academy Awards usually do a great job representing the best of English-language cinema each year, the award ceremony has historically not done enough to recognize the work done by artists of other nationalities. Parasite's victory was the first time in history that an international language film won Best Picture, although many previous films deserved the honor.
Indeed, AMPAS has routinely ignored great work from many non-English language countries. As Parasite's director, Bong Joon-ho, said best, "Once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films." These are among the best examples of worthy foreign-language films that were snubbed by the Academy, joining the embarrassingly long list of AMPAS' most egregious missteps.
