Video = A24's official YouTube channel

"Past Lives," the acclaimed film by Korean Canadian director Celine Song, has been nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.

The Beverly Hills, California-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Jan. 23 announced its list of Oscar nominees that included the two for the film, whose screenplay was also written by Song.

"Past Lives" is the third film directed by an ethnic Korean to be nominated for Best Picture, following Bong Joon-ho's "Parasite" in 2020 and Lee Isaac Chung's "Minari" in 2021.

Based on Song's real-life experience, the movie is about Na-young and Hae-sung and seeing each other for the first time in around 20 years in New York after being childhood friends in Korea. Most of the dialogue is in Korean and landscapes of Korea frequently appear.

"Past Lives" has been invited to the competition section of the Berlin International Film Festival, one of the world's top three events of its kind, and won the U.S. National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Film on Jan. 7. The movie has also earned nominations from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts' Film Awards for Leading Actor (Teo Yoo), Film Not in the English Language and Original Screenplay.

This year's Academy Awards is scheduled for March 10 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

km137426@korea.kr