‘Nomadland’ Is an Uneasy Front Runner as Oscar Voting Begins We’re at that crucial point in the awards calendar when critics stop voting and the industry startsSteve Pond | March 5, 2021 @ 1:33 PM Last Updated: March 7, 2021 @ 10:25 AM AWARDS BEAT (Joshua Richardson/Searchlight) With Oscar nomination voting beginning on Friday, Searchlight’s “Nomadland” is in a strong position. But history suggests that it’s also a precarious position. Chloé Zhao’s American travelogue has won the lion’s share of critics’ awards this year, won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Drama and sits comfortably atop most Oscar prediction polls. But we’re at a strange point in the Oscar race, one which usually arrives in early January — a point where almost every award that’s been handed out so far has come from voters who are critics or journalists or academics, and where we really haven’t heard from the industry.