Oscars 2021: Nomadland Director Chloe Zhao Needs To Win Over China Now

Chloe Zhao, who has been honoured with the Best Director trophy for Nomadland at the Oscars this year, is awaiting its release in China

Chloe Zhao just became the first Chinese and Asian woman to win an Oscar for best director. Some movie buffs are now pondering if the prestigious award will help her smooth Beijing's feathers ruffled by controversial comments she made almost a decade ago. The screening of her critically acclaimed film Nomadland, which was originally scheduled for a theatrical release in China on April 23, is in limbo. The reason for the cold shoulder is attributed to a 2013 interview in which Zhao, 39, is said to have described her home country as "a place where there are lies everywhere." State-backed Global Times, in a commentary last month, said she needs to face the consequences, but also sounded conciliatory by arguing against a ban. At the awards ceremony on Sunday in Los Angeles, Zhao alluded to her Chinese and Confucian roots that kept her "going when things get hard" and for her belief that "people at birth are inherently good." "This is for anyone who has the faith and the courage to hold on to the goodness in themselves, and to hold on to the goodness in each other," she said. Born in Beijing, Zhao is the biggest name in entertainment to have emerged out of mainland China, after director Zhang Yimou and actresses Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi. Her Nomadland, a quintessentially American film about people living in camper vans chasing seasonal jobs from state to state, has already received many other awards including the Golden Globe for best drama film and director, and the Golden Lion for best film at the Venice Film Festival. The top Hollywood honor could soften Beijing's stance, said Stanley Rosen, a China politics and film specialist at the University of Southern California. The country has tried "so desperately to show that it can nurture creative talent under its authoritarian system," he said, adding the government also expects Zhao to clarify her remarks. She hasn't commented on the controversy yet, at least not in public.