Oscars 2021: Chloé Zhao Becomes 2nd Woman to Win Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow won for “The Hurt Locker” in 2010
Beatrice Verhoeven | April 25, 2021 @ 6:03 PM
ABC
On Sunday, Chloé Zhao became the second woman in history to win Best Director at the Academy Awards for “Nomadland,” a victory that came more than a decade after Kathryn Bigelow broke the gender barrier with “The Hurt Locker” in 2010.
David Fincher (“Mank”), Thomas Vinterberg (“Another Round”), Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari”), Zhao (“Nomadland”) and Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”) were nominated in the category this year.
Zhao also became the first Asian woman and the first woman of color to win the award. Her win also means that Asian directors have won the Oscar the last four times they’ve been nominated (Ang Lee won in 2006 and 2013, while Bong Joon-ho won in 2020).
Chloe Zhao shooting Nomadland
Accepting the award, producer and actress Frances McDormand encouraged everyone to watch all the nominated films in a movie theater, when possible.
Nomadland was named best picture at the 2021 Oscars on Sunday. We thank the Academy, and we thank our brilliant fellow nominees, said director and producer Chloé Zhao as she stepped up to the podium with producers Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, Frances McDormand and Peter Spears.
Thanking the cast and crew, among them the brilliant cinematographer Joshua James Richards, Zhao acknowledged all the people we met on the road. Thank you for teaching us the power of resilience and hope and reminding us what true kindness looks like, she said.
Oscars 2021: Jewish nominees (nearly) strike out April 26, 2021 12:50 am Sacha Baron Cohen poses in humorous fashion for a photo during a screening of the Oscars in Sydney, Australia, April 25, 2021 in Sydney, Australia. (Rick Rycroft/ Pool/Getty Images)
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(JTA) It was an unusual Academy Awards in several ways.
Forced to adapt to social distancing protocols, the ceremony was split into different venues but mostly took place in Los Angeles’ Union Station. For only the second time in history, a woman won best director and the first woman of color at that, as the award went to Chloe Zhao for “Nomadland,” which also won best picture. And then there was Glenn Close’s meme-able dance to the self-explanatory 1988 song “Da Butt.”