Annoying snobs aside, there are some well-being stories among this year’s Oscar nominees, and Chloe Zhao’s historic year is one of them. Zhao and Emerald Fennell mark the first time that two women have been nominated for Best Director at the same time, and Zhao is the first black woman and the first Asian woman to be nominated in this category. She is also the first woman to receive FOUR Oscar nominations in a year, for producing, writing, directing and editing Nomadland. She joins Alfonso Cuaron, the Coen brothers, Alan Menken, Warren Beatty, Walt Disney and Orson Welles as four other nominees. (Francis Ford-Coppola is nominated five times.) Bong Joon-ho accepted four Oscars last year, three of which were his, but the Best International Film goes to the country, not to the individual, so he accepted on behalf of Korea from the South. If Zhao wins the award for Best Director, as expected, she will be only the second woman to do so in the history of the Academy, after Kathryn Bigelow, and the first woman of color and Asian to win that category.
But not everything is sun and roses, as Nomadland is facing some challenges for its pending launch in China. Zhao’s previous comments that seem critical of his home country have put her in dire straits. There is currently a social media blackout on your behalf and Nomadland and its April 23 launch is now in question. She was not completely censored, but Zhao and Nomadland they are the last to be caught up in the deteriorating relations between the US and China, in addition to coming into conflict with Chinese nationalist censors. It’s a complicated situation that can affect more than just Nomadland, how The Eternals is also at stake. It is especially interesting because Zhao and her Hollywood success have been a source of pride for China until literally the day after she won the Golden Globe. So far, Zhao has not issued a statement about the situation, but the Chinese market, now the highest grossing in the world and therefore even more critical than normal for a film’s success, is too important to be ignored. I will be curious to see how this will unfold, and whether Zhao, being an Oscar nominee four times or not, moves the needle in his favor.