Part One – Best Picture Winners from 1928/1929 to 1940
Despite this year’s Oscar ceremony being criticized (again) for its lack of diversity and its failure to nominate at least one woman in the Best Director category, they still managed to pull one surprise out the bag by selecting Bong Joon-ho’s black comedy thriller Parasite as Best Picture. In choosing this South Korean masterpiece the Academy has made it the first foreign language (now referred to as international film) film to win the most coveted of Tinseltown’s prizes.
In its now 90-year history, there have been one or two controversial Best Picture awards and quite a few that have left some heads needed scratching as to why they were even in the running, never mind winning the 13.5 in (34.3 cm) tall, 8.5 lb (3.856 kg) gold-plated, bronze Art Deco knight.
The category of Best Picture has had a few name changes in its time, from 1928 to 1929 it was known as the Academy Award for Outstanding Picture. That changed to the Academy Award for Outstanding Production between 1929/30 and 1940. Changing again from 1941 to 1943 to the Academy Award for Outstanding Motion Picture. There was one last name change from 1944 to 1961 to the before finally in 1962, settling on the one we know today, the Academy Award for Best Picture.
So, let’s have a look at the history of the Best Picture winner right from the ceremony’s inception…..and no, Christopher Nolans Inception didn’t win the 2011 Best Picture Oscar, it lost out royally.
