Free Republic

Chloé Zhao used to say she sometimes forgot she was Asian...When she was growing up in Beijing in the 1980s and ’90s, being Chinese was simply the context in which she and everyone around her existed. A few border crossings and two decades later, she would find her way to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota — where she would eventually make her generation’s best film about the American West. She met Lakota cowboy Brady Jandreau when he was working at a ranch and cast him in The Rider as Brady Blackburn, an injured rodeo star who struggles...

Chloé Zhao’s history-making Oscars sweep, winning best director and best picture, is being met with a muted response in her country of birth, and even censorship. Zhao’s “Nomadland” is the second film directed by a woman to win a best picture Oscar. She is the first woman of color and second woman ever to win the Oscars for best director. Yet, in China, where Zhao was born, her history-making success has not been trumpeted or celebrated. State media in China remained silent as of Monday afternoon, with no mention of her win by either CCTV and Xinhua, the two main...

Making Academy Awards history in the most awkward way imaginable, Anthony Hopkins won the Oscar for best actor for his performance in “The Father,” becoming the oldest winner ever. Hopkins, however, was not on hand to accept the award, which for the first time in Oscars history was placed at the very end of the telecast, after “Nomadland” had won best picture and Frances McDormand took home best actress. Presenter Joaquin Phoenix instead had to accept the award on Hopkins’ behalf, providing an altogether abrupt and anti-climatic conclusion to the most unusual Academy Awards ceremony in modern history. It is...

<p>Zhao won the Oscar for best director for “Nomadland,” becoming just the second woman and the first woman of color to win the award.</p><p>Kathryn Bigelow was the first woman to win, for “The Hurt Locker,” in 2009.</p><p>This was the only year in Oscar history with two female nominees, Zhao and “Promising Young Woman” director Emerald Fennell. Only seven women have ever been nominated.</p>

LONDON (AP) — Gig-economy Western “Nomadland” won four prizes including best picture on Sunday at the British Academy Film Awards, which were handed out during a pandemic-curbed ceremony that recognized a diverse array of screen talent. “Nomadland” filmmaker Chloe Zhao became only the second woman, and the first woman of color, to win the BAFTA for best director, and star Frances McDormand was named best actress. “Nomadland” also took the cinematography prize. “Nomadland” stars McDormand as a middle-aged woman who travels the American West while living out of her van and picking up short-term work. Zhao, who lived among real...