American Film Institute selects 'Minari' as one of top 10 AFI Movies of the Year

"Minari" has been chosen as one of the American Film Institute's (AFI) top 10 AFI Movies of the Year announced on Jan. 25, forecasting a successful year to come for the Korean indie film. "The American Film Institute (AFI) on Monday announced ..

The poster image for ″Minari," which is set to arrive in local theaters this March. [PAN CINEMA]

"Minari" has been chosen as one of the American Film Institute's (AFI) top 10 AFI Movies of the Year, announced on Jan. 25, forecasting a successful year to come for the Korean indie film.

"The AFI on Monday announced its movies of the year, with five of the 10 honorees featuring predominantly non-white casts and stories," said Reuters.

According to AFI, the AFI Awards "are made through a jury process where AFI Trustees, artists, critics and scholars determine the year’s most outstanding achievements and provide artistic and cultural context for the selection of each honoree" and are considered "the first indications of the films expected to do well at the Oscars and Golden Globes" according to Reuters.

"Minari" was honored along with Spike Lee’s Vietnam drama “Da 5 Bloods" and Chadwick Boseman’s last movie “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom" among others.

Written and directed by Korean-American filmmaker Lee Isaac Chung, "Minari" is based on Lee’s own childhood and tells the tale of a family of Korean immigrants settling in Arkansas, America, in the 1980s in hopes of a better life.

It has been getting high praise since it was first revealed at the 25th Busan International Film Festival last year in October for its delicate portrayal of immigrant lives in the United States, allowing actor Yoon Yuh-jung, who takes on the role of the grandmother of the family, to take home 11 awards for her supporting role.

Anticipation is riding high in Korea that Yoon could become the first Korean actor to receive an Academy Award.

Director Lee, who debuted through low-budget film “Munyurangabo” (2007), won the Grand Prize at the American Film Institute Festival that year and the film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 60th Cannes Film Festival. Lee is again receiving global accolades through his latest film, which has received a total of 41 wins and 90 nominations from global film associations so far.

American media outlet Variety predicts that the film will receive nods in the categories of Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress for Steven Yeun and Yoon.

BY YOON SO-YEON, LEE JAE-LIM [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]