Nomadland
- -A woman in her sixties after losing everything in the Great Recession embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.
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A woman in her sixties after losing everything in the Great Recession embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.
Follows a woman in her sixties who, after losing everything in the Great Recession, embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.
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 ChloĆ© 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. [searchlight]
Nomadland (2020) by ChloƩ Zhao Movie Trailer
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
In fall 2018, while filming Nomadland in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, near the frozen field of a beet harvest, I flipped through Edward Abbeyās Desert Solitaireāa book given to me by someone I met on the road. I came upon this quote: āMen come and go, cities rise and fall, whole civilizations appear and disappearāthe earth remains, slightly modified. The earth remains, and the heartbreaking beauty where there are no hearts to break… I sometimes choose to think, no doubt perversely, that man is a dream, thought an illusion, and only rock is real. Rock and sun.ā For the next four months, nomads came and went as we traveled and filmedāmany kept rocks from their wanderings, their home on wheels powered by the sun. They left stories and wisdom in front and behind the camera. Having grown up in the cities of China and England, Iāve always been deeply drawn to the open roadāan idea I find to be quintessentially Americanāthe endless search for whatās beyond the horizon. I tried to capture a glimpse of it in this movie, knowing itās not possible to truly describe the American road to another person. One has to discover it on oneās own.