(Xinhua)09:24, January 11, 2021
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) — Chinese-born director Chloe Zhaos feature film Nomadland became a big winner on Saturday with four trophies at the annual National Society of Film Critics (NSFC) Awards, and is continuing to sweep the awards circuit in the United States.
Nomadland, an American contemporary Western drama distributed by Searchlight Pictures, was named best film of 2020 at the virtual NSFCs 55th awards voting meeting, and is Zhaos second film after the cowboy drama The Rider two years ago.
Zhao also nabbed the best director award. Best actress went to Frances McDormand for her performance, and Joshua James Richards walked away with the best cinematography award.
It was at least the fifth top prize in film directing this week for Zhao from the countrys critics groups, with the others from the Columbus Film Critics Association, the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle, the Alliance Of Women Film Journalists, and the North Carolina Film Critics Association.
An adaptation from a 2017 non-fiction book, the film stars McDormand, a two-time Oscar winner, as an out-of-work woman who packs her van and sets off from her small town across the vast landscape of the American West, exploring a life outside of conventional society as a modern-day nomad.
Earlier, Nomadland had won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and the Peoples Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, making history as the first to win both honors. Awards have piled up from coast to coast in the United States in recent weeks, putting it on the fast track for Oscar contention.
Voting of the NSFC, consisting of 60 prominent movie critics from major papers and outlets across the United States, is conducted via a weighted ballot system this year. Delroy Lindo nabbed best actor for his role in Netflixs war drama Da 5 Bloods. Eliza Hittman in Never Rarely Sometimes Always was awarded best screenplay, and the Romanian film Collective won the best foreign language film award.
The South Korean film Parasite was the best film at the NSFC Awards last year. It went on to make history at the 92nd Academy Awards, winning four top prizes, including the one for best picture.