Chloé Zhao on Nomadland’s feminist qualities, her hope to make a movie in China and why she directed Marvel’s Eternals

The Beijing-born director’s innate ability as an outsider to capture both the American landscape and those within it has shone through in the films she has made

Zhao, whose father was a manager at a steel company while her mother worked in a hospital in China, says she tries to combine Eastern and Western influences

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Beijing-born filmmaker Chloé Zhao’s third film, Nomadland, has become the movie to beat in this year’s awards season race. In March, she became the first ever Asian woman to win best director at the Golden Globes. Photo: AFP

Published: 12:45pm, 30 Mar 2021Updated: 12:33pm, 29 Apr 2021

Right now, the rise of Chloé Zhao just feels unstoppable.

The Beijing-born filmmaker’s third film, Nomadland, has become the movie to beat in this year’s awards season race. In March, she became the first ever Asian woman to win best director at the recent Golden Globes and – after Barbra Streisand in 1984 – only the second woman ever to claim the prize. As Streisand herself tweeted, “It’s about time!”

In April, Zhao’s film will compete at both the BAFTAs and the Oscars – with Nomadland now a front-runner ahead of high-profile Netflix films Mank and The Trial of the Chicago 7.

It’s a momentum that’s been building since Zhao’s film premiered last September in highly unusual fashion, simultaneously at the Venice and Toronto International Film Festivals. At the latter, the film won the popular vote, the Audience Award, while in Venice it took the prestigious Golden Lion.

The significance was not lost on the modest 38 year-old. “First of all, my parents just loved me so much more,” she says with a grin. “China has a big love affair with Venice, because of Zhang Yimou and Jia Zhangke.”

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