"Minari is about a family. It's a family trying to learn how to speak a language of its own," said director Lee Isaac Chungs during his acceptance speech.
Minari's win in the best foreign-language category at tonight's Golden Globes Award ceremony comes after a controversy about the film's classification that left the movie shut out of the best picture race.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association was heavily criticized for its decision to place the Lee Isaac Chung-directed drama in the foreign-language category given that the film was financed and produced by American companies, A24 and Plan B, respectively. The cast and crew were also majority made up of American talent.
At the time, people took to social media to criticize the HFPA's decision, including Hollywood players like Daniel Dae Kim, Lulu Wang, and Simu Liu. Wang's 2019 film The Farewell was also placed in the foreign-language category, despite being financed and produced by American companies.
Minari follows a Korean family as they move to Arkansas, where they hope to build a farm.
The rules of the HFPA states that any film with at least 50 percent non-English dialogue must compete for the foreign-language award rather than for one of the two best picture categories. Minari is predominantly in Korean.
Said Chung while accepting the award, "Minari is about a family. It's a family trying to learn how to speak a language of its own. It goes deeper than any American language and any foreign language— it's a language of the heart."
The Golden Globe Awards ceremony is produced by Dick Clark Productions, a division of MRC, which is a co-owner of The Hollywood Reporter through a joint venture with Penske Media titled P-MRC.
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