Accordingly the epochal victory for Bong Joon-ho’s south Korean drama Parasite at the 92nd Oscars has given a ray of hope that the audience will, in the director’s words, “overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles” to explore “more amazing films” beyond english, in languages such as Chinese, Lebanese, Romanian, French, Japanese and more.
Reportedly indian film distributors who’ve been working on creating a dedicated foreign film viewership in theatres, are bullish about the growth, no matter how slow it is. Apparently “The market is expanding, but it’s slow. Parasite’s oscar win is a game changer at many levels. It will be a shot in the arm for foreign language films.
Moreover it was stated that OTT platforms and youtube have helped to break the language barrier,” says Smriti Kiran, artistic director of a mumbai film fest, that brings a gamut of foreign films each year. While the “struggle” with exhibitors to screen such films continues, Sharma, who’ll next bring the French film Portrait of a Lady on fire, says, “The perception is that a foreign language film is an art film. Exhibitors think these films won’t work, and they are right to an extent as in the past, the audience turnout has not been so good.”
