‘Nomadland’ Wins Best Picture At 2021 Oscars

At the 2021 Oscars ceremony, held at Union Station in Los Angeles last night, Nomadland won Best Picture, Chloé Zhao became the first woman of colour and the second woman ever to be named Best Director, and Frances McDormand won Best Actress.

Nomadland tells the story of Fern who explores life as a nomad

Nomadland tells the story of Fern (Frances McDormand) who, after losing everything during the recession, packs her van and explores a life outside of conventional society as a modern-day nomad. The film won Best Picture Drama and Best Director Motion Picture at the Golden Globe Awards, and Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Cinematography at the BAFTA Awards.

Nomadland features real nomads Linda May, Swankie and Bob Wells, as Fern’s mentors and comrades in her exploration through the vast landscape of the American West. The film is based on the book of the same name by Jessica Bruder.

During her acceptance speech for Best Director for Nomadland at the 2021 Oscars Chloé Zhao said, “I have always found goodness in the people I met, everywhere I went in the world. So this is for anyone who had the faith and the courage to hold on to the goodness in themselves, and to hold on to the goodness in each other, no matter how difficult it is to do that.”

The Nomadland soundtrack features music by Ludovico Einaudi

The Nomadland soundtrack features music by Ludovico Einaudi and a previously unreleased track from Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds. Nomadland director Chloe Zhao was recently featured as a guest on podcast series Experience: The Ludovico Einaudi Story and she explained, to host Joe Dempsie, how she first discovered Einaudi’s music: “I went online to search for classical music inspired by nature …[it led me to] a YouTube video to his Elegy for the Arctic. I then started listening to Seven Days Walking and was so amazed by how I felt Ludovico was walking in the Alps. I felt like he and [the character of] Fern were walking in parallel; their shared love of nature connects them, and I knew then his music would fit perfectly with our movie.

I wanted the music [for Nomadland] to feel like the inner dialogue that Fern has with herself. In this silent moment as she’s going through all these different landscapes, it’s as if she is talking to us, making us understand how she has changed.”

The Nomadland soundtrack can be bought here.

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