Have You Seen These Chloe Zhao Films? Know More About The The Oscar Winning Director

Chloe Zhao Films: On Monday, April 26, Chinese filmmaker Chloe Zhao became the first woman of colour to win the Oscar for Best Director.

Oscars are known for their prestige as well as their controversies, with the advancing time and more awareness around inclusivity, Oscar's showrunners are also on a keen attempt to make the award show more inclusive. And now Chinese filmmaker Chloe Zhao won an Oscar for the Best Director at the 93rd Academy Awards and became the first woman of colour to do so.

Who is Chloe Zhao?

Chloe Zhao born to Zhao Yuji, who rode the wave of China’s industrialisation to great success, first as a top executive at one of the country’s largest steel companies, Shougang Group, and Huang Taoa hospital worker who was in a People's Liberation Army performance troupe. Zhao is primarily known for her work in the independent U.S films and made her debut with the feature film, Songs My Brothers Taught Me. In an interview with Vogue Zhao described herself as a rebellious teen who was lazy at school, along with that she liked drawing manga and writing fanfiction.

Zhao rose to fame with her critically acclaimed work and films who have been nominated numerous times either at Cannes Film Festival or Golden Globe Awards. Here are some of her popular works.

 Four popular films by Chloe Zhao

Nomadland

Nomadland is the film that landed the director her first Oscar Award, it an American drama that revolves around a van dwelling woman played by Frances McDormand, van dwelling typically refers to lifestyle on a part-time vehicle, commonly a van with basic amenities,  to explore the freedom, mobility and self-sufficiency out of the stationary life. The death of Frances' character's husband leads her to this houseless travel throughout the United States.

The film is based on Jessica Bruder's non-fiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century (2017). Nomadland premiered on September 2020, at the Venice Film Festival and won the Golden Lion. It also won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Songs my Bother Taught me

Songs my Brother Taught me was Zhao's debut film, produced along with Forest Whitaker and was developed at the Sundance Institute workshops. This film is also an American drama that was released in 2015, the story explores the relationship between a brother-sister duo, Jashaun Winters and John Winters. The context of the film exits in Native American drama set in Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the director picks the marginalised community of Lakota Sioux which refers to the Native American tribe in Dakota.

The film premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival in the US Dramatic Competition section. It was later screened in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival where it received a nomination for the Caméra d'Or Award for the best first feature film.

The Rider

The Rider is an American western contemporary drama that typically involves contemporary US setting and theme of the old West along with the motifs like a rebellious antihero, open plains and desert landscapes, and gunfights. The context and setting of The Rider are the same as the Songs my Brother Taught me, based in Dakota dealing with Lakota Sioux. It revolves around the life events of Bradley, who was once a rising rodeo star but suffered brain damage from a rodeo accident, weakening his right hand and leaving him prone to seizures. Doctors have told him that riding will make them worse, thus the name 'rider'.

The film stars Brady Jandreau, Lilly Jandreau, Tim Jandreau, Lane Scott, and Cat Clifford and was shot in the Badlands of South Dakota. It premiered in the Directors' Fortnight section at the Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2017, where it won the Art Cinema Award.

Eternals

Eternals is the big leap that Zhao has made towards the blockbuster film culture, an upcoming superhero film based on the Marvel Comic of the same name. Marvel is one of the biggest franchise and studios in Hollywood, and Zhao's transition from art films to commercial movies is rather surprising. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is intended to be the 26th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Chloé Zhao and written by Kaz and Ryan Firpo.

It stars big names like Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, and Salma Hayek.