Parasite is a 2019 South Korean film directed by Bong Joon-ho. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Palme d'Or, unanimously. The screenplay was written by Bong Joon-ho in collaboration with Han Jin-won, and the film stars Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-shik, Park So-dam, and Jang Hye-jin.
Bong was inspired to write Parasite when, in 2013, a stage actor encouraged him to write a play. Taking inspiration from his experience tutoring a wealthy family as a 20-something, Bong wrote the script over a period of a few years, in collaboration with his production assistant on Snowpiercer, Han Jin-won. He was also inspired by the 1960 Korean film The Housemaid, as well as the story of Christine and Léa Papin, two French maids who murdered their employers in the 1940s.
The film was met with nearly universal acclaim, with critics and audiences praising its brilliant screenplay, its balancing act of the darkly humorous and satirical, the politically relevant, and the emotionally compelling. After winning the Palme d'Or at Cannes—the first South Korean film to do so—it unexpectedly swept the 2020 Academy Awards, winning Best Picture, Best Director, Best International Feature Film, and Best Original Screenplay. This was the first time a non-English-language film had won Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
