Golden Globes allows international films to compete for best picture
- Foreign language and animated films can contend for Golden Globes top prizes
- Critically acclaimed ‘Minari’ was restricted to foreign language category this year
After consecutive years of controversy about its rule limitations, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association will now allow non-English language films to compete for its best picture prizes.
The move came after the group faced criticism for shunting films like Minari and The Farewell to its foreign language category, making them ineligible to compete for the main prizes of best picture drama and musical/comedy.
The exclusion of Minari last year was considered particularly galling, as Lee Isaac Chung’s acclaimed film was American-financed, made by an American director and concerned nothing less than a family pursuing the American dream on a farm in Arkansas.
Parasite, the previous year’s eventual best picture Oscar winner, was also not allowed to compete.
Actor Daniel Dae Kim tweeted that it is the “film equivalent of being told to go back to your country when that country is actually America.”
The HFPA also announced that animated films will be allowed to vie for its best picture prizes. The changes will take place immediately, “regardless of the next airdate of the Golden Globes”.
NBC announced in May that it would not air the 2022 Golden Globes ceremony, following a Los Angeles Times investigation into the HFPA’s membership and financial and ethical practices.