BONG Joon-ho’s Latest Gains Momentum on North American Awards Circuit
BONG Joon-ho’s Netflix-backed
Okja has earned a pair of Best Foreign Language Film Prizes from both the Austin and North Carolina Film Critics Associations.
In North Carolina, the big-budget eco-adventure with
AHN Seo-hyun, Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal and Paul Dano beat out titles such as Ruben Östlund’s
The Square, Robin Campillo’s
120 BPM, Joachim Trier’s
Thelma, François Ozon’s
Frantz, Agnès Varda’s
Faces Places, Angelina Jolie’s
First They Killed My Father and Julia Ducournau’s
Raw. Its Austin competition included
The Square,
Thelma,
Raw and MIIKE Takashi’s
Blade of the Immortal.
After premiering in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, Okja bowed on the Netflix streaming service around the world on June 28 in 190 countries. Additionally, the film also received limited theatrical releases in Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Okja also received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress (for Swinton) from the North Texas Film Critics Association Awards, though Swinton ultimately lost out to Laurie Metcalf in Greta Gerwig’s coming-of-age drama Ladybird.
The film has also been shortlisted for the Best Visual Effects category of this year’ Academy Awards. In addition to awards, the latest film from
Memories of Murder (2003) director BONG has landed on several top 10 lists by influential film critics around the world, including The New York Times’ Manohla Dargis.