Chloé Zhao
38 • VISIONARY
FILMMAKER
BY FRANCES
MCDORMAND
When navigating the many
unknowns of low-budget,
improvisational guerrilla film-
making with a director, one hopes
for a steady hand holding the
compass. And that’s what you get
with Chloé Zhao. A steady hand
and a well-marked road map. With
our film, Nomadland, and her first
two, Songs My Brothers Taught
Me and The Rider, she gained
the trust of people offering their
intimate life stories. She has
an uncanny skill for walking the
knife’s edge between sentiment
and sentimentality—and that
enriches her storytelling in very
authentic and original ways. It is
for all of these reasons that Chloé
has the high regard and respect
of her peers. At the end of the
day, what more could one ask for
than that? She is also one of the
only people I know who can wear a
fleece jacket with puppy faces on
it that she bought at an RV swap
meet, and make it work like it was
a Valentino.
McDormand is an Oscar-winning
actor and a producer
DIAS: J. ADAM FENSTER—UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER; LI: VCG/GETTY IMAGES