Current Events > Why are 'foreign'-language films ineligible for Best Picture in Golden Globes ?

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Charlene Jimenez, director of entertainment partnerships and advocacy for the nonprofit Define American, described this year's Golden Globes nominations as part of a "pattern of erasure" as she recently called for a review of the language requirement. "More than 350 languages are spoken in American homes today. So what does 'foreign' language mean?" Jimenez told CNN. "It's a really important time for us as an American society to be investigating our own prejudice about films like this, about stories like this, about immigrant stories -- what does and does not resonate as 'American' to people."

The United States has no official language. And more than 20% of the US population age 5 and over speaks a language other than English at home, according to census data.
If the Golden Globes' rules don't change with the times, there could be consequences beyond the big screen, says William Yu, a screenwriter and activist who's been a vocal critic of whitewashing in Hollywood.
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"It has industry-shifting implications over who gets acknowledged and who doesn't," he says. "It can have an outsized impact on the trajectory of their career."
And important stories could go unrecognized -- and unseen. "The HFPA probably is erasing a good chunk of immigrant stories that are going to come from communities that are marginalized. As these communities mature and look to tell their own stories, it's not always going to be in English," he says. "And to be told that if your movie isn't 50% in English in order to be considered for best picture, then you will never be enough -- there's a certain kind of implied inferiority when you can be considered for best foreign language film but not the best film."