Chloé Zhao has become the second woman in history and the first woman of color to win the award for Best Director of the awards Directors Guild of America Awards for his movie ‘Nomadland’. While Kathryn Bigelow previously won the category in 2009 for her film ‘On Hostile Land’ (The Hurt Locker, 2008), Zhao is recognized for her work on the film with Frances McDormand at a key moment.
With half Oscar in his pocket
This year’s DGA Awards have been important to women in film, and Zhao was nominated alongside ‘A Promising Young Woman’ director Emerald Fennell in the feature film directing category for the first time, while Radha Blank and Regina King they were nominated for their films respectively. However, Darius Marder eventually won the category for his work on ‘Sound of Metal’.
Zhao, who is currently directing Marvel’s next piece ‘Eternals’, is thus placed on the lead by the race for the Oscars. The DGA award is often considered a benchmark for the Oscar for Best Director. Many of the recent DGA winners repeated at the Academy Awards, including Alfonso Cuarón for ‘Roma’, Guillermo del Toro for ‘The Shape of Water’, Damien Chazelle for ‘La La Land’ and Alejandro G. Iñárritu for ‘The reborn’ and ‘Birdman or (The unexpected virtue of ignorance)’. However, last year’s winner Sam Mendes for ‘1917’ lost to Bong Joon Ho for ‘Parasite’ for Best Director at the Oscars.
Congratulations to Chloé Zhao for winning the DGA Award for BEST DIRECTOR. #NMDLND #DGAAwards pic.twitter.com/oEEYMiC6zI
– Nomadland (@nomadlandfilm) April 11, 2021
Nomadland: also sweeps the BAFTA and PGA
With the BAFTA awards also in his favor ‘Nomadland’ the main prize in the Producers Guild Awards 2021 last week, they also bring it closer to a Best Picture win at the Oscars, as it’s also an indicator of which movie will win the Best Picture Oscar. In fact, the 2021 PGA nominees for the top prize are also nominated for the Best Picture Oscar of 2021: ‘Judas and the Black Messiah ‘,’ Mank ‘,’ Minari ‘,’ Nomadland ‘,’ A Promising Young Woman ‘,’ Sound Of Metal ‘and’ The Chicago Trial of the 7‘.