Taglines: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century.
Nomadland Movie Storyline. Following the economic collapse of a company town in rural Nevada, Fern (Frances McDormand) packs her van and sets off on the road exploring a life outside of conventional society as a modern-day nomad. The third feature film from director Chloé Zhao, 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.
Nomadland is a 2020 American drama film based on the 2017 nonfiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder. The film is written, produced, directed, and edited by Chloé Zhao, and stars Frances McDormand (who is also a producer on the film) as a vandwelling working nomad who leaves her hometown after her husband dies and the sole industry closes down, to be “houseless” and travel around the United States. David Strathairn also stars in a supporting role. A number of real-life nomads appear as fictionalized versions of themselves, including Linda May, Swankie, and Bob Wells.
Nomadland premiered on September 11, 2020, at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the Golden Lion. It also won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. It had a one-week streaming limited release on December 4, 2020, and was distributed by Searchlight Pictures in selected IMAX theaters in the United States on January 29, 2021, and simultaneously in theaters, and streaming digitally on Hulu, on February 19, 2021.
The film was praised for its direction, screenplay, editing, cinematography, and performances, especially of McDormand. It was the third-highest rated film of 2020 on Metacritic, which found it to be the most frequently ranked by critics and publications as one of the best films of the year.
At the 93rd Academy Awards, it won Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress for McDormand, from a total of six nominations; Zhao became the first woman of color, first Asian woman and only the second woman ever to win Best Director, while McDormand became the first woman and fourth person ever to win Academy Awards for both acting and producing, as well as becoming the first person ever to win Academy Awards as both producer and performer for the same film.
It is also the first Searchlight or 20th Century Studios release to win Best Picture since The Walt Disney Company acquired the assets of 21st Century Fox, including Searchlight (not including retroactive wins for 20th or Searchlight-released films, nor the four films released by Miramax, the last being 2007’s No Country For Old Men, that had won when Disney owned that company).
It also won Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Director at the 78th Golden Globe Awards, four awards including Best Film at the 74th British Academy Film Awards, and four awards including Best Film at the 36th Independent Spirit Awards.
Nomadland grossed $2.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $20.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $23 million. Although Searchlight did not make the grosses of Nomadland public, sources estimated the film grossed $170,000 from its two-week IMAX run, then $503,000 from 1,175 theaters in its wide opening weekend on February 19, for a total of $673,000. Social media monitor RelishMix noted online response to the film was “mixed-to-leaning-positive” among audiences. In its second weekend of wide release, the film made an estimated $330,000 from 1,200 theaters, for a four-week running total of $1.1 million.
Nomadland (2021)
Directed by: Chloé Zhao
Starring: Frances McDormand, David Strathairn, Linda May, Charlene Swankie, Bob Wells, Peter Spears, Derek Endres, Tay Strathairn, Gay DeForest, Patricia Grier, Angela Reyes, Carl R. Hughes
Screenplay by: Chloé Zhao
Production Design by: Joshua James Richards
Cinematography by: Joshua James Richards
Film Editing by: Chloé Zhao
Costume Design by: Hannah Peterson
Art Direction by: Elizabeth Godar
Music by: Ludovico Einaudi
MPAA Rating: R for some full nudity.
Distributed by: Searchlight Pictures
Release Date: September 11, 2020 (Venice), February 19, 2021 (United States)
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