Parasite

Parasite (Korean: 기생충; RR: Gisaengchung) is a 2019 South Korean black comedy thriller film directed by Bong Joon Ho, who co-wrote the film with Han Jin-won. The film, starring Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-shik, Park So-dam, Jang Hye-jin, Park Myung-hoon, and Lee Jung-eun, follows a poor family who infiltrate the life of a wealthy family. The script is based on a play Bong wrote in 2013. He later adapted it into a 15-page film draft, and Han split it into three different drafts. Bong said he was inspired by the 1960 Korean film The Housemaid and by the Christine and Léa Papin incident in the 1930s. Filming began in May 2018 and finished that September. The project included cinematographer Hong Kyung-pyo, film editor Yang Jin-mo, and composer Jung Jae-il. Parasite premiered at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival on 21 May 2019, where it became the first Korean film to win its top prize, the Palme d'Or. It was praised for Bong's direction and screenplay, its editing, production design, and the performances of the cast. Parasite was released in South Korea by CJ Entertainment on 30 May, grossing $258 million worldwide on an $11.4 million budget. Among its numerous accolades, Parasite won the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 92nd Academy Awards, becoming the first non-English-language film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. It won an additional three Oscars, for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film. It is the first South Korean film to receive any Academy Award recognition, and one of only four films overall to win both the Palme d'Or and the Academy Award for Best Picture, the first such achievement in over 60 years. It won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language, and became the first non-English-language film to win the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. Since its release, Parasite has been regarded as Bong Joon Ho’s magnum opus. The film was ranked in the 2022 Sight and Sound poll as the 90th best film of all time. In 2025, The New York Times rated Parasite as the best movie of the 21st century so far in a list based on a vote by readers, actors and directors. As of February 2025, an HBO limited television series based on the film is in early development.