Oscars 2021 | 'Nomadland' wins Academy Award for Best Picture ― all you need to know

Source: Reuters

Nomadland, directed by Chloé Zhao won the Oscars 2021 'Best Picture' title at the 93rd Academy Awards event on April 25.

The film stars Frances McDormand as a vandwelling woman who leaves her hometown of Empire, Nevada, after her husband dies and the sole industry closes down, to be "houseless" and travel around the United States.

The motion picture is based on the 2017 non-fiction book titled 'Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century' written by Jessica Bruder.

Chloé Zhao also won the 'Best Director' award , becoming the first woman of colour to receive the honour.

Read | Nomadland review: Discover yourself in this Oscar-winning film about 'houselessness'

The Academy had selected eight films released over the past year for the 'best motion picture' category. Besides Nomadland, the other seven were Mank, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Promising Young Woman, Sound of Metal, Judas and the Black Messiah, Minari and The Father.

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Here's a quick look at the other nominations in this category:

David Fincher’s Mank revolves around 1930’s Hollywood and stars noted actors like Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried and Lily Collins. The biographical drama about screenwriter Herman J Mankiewicz and his development of the screenplay for Citizen Kane (1941). The entire film was shot in black-and-white using RED cameras to pay homage to old Hollywood films.

Aaron Sorkin’s ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ featuring Eddie Redmayne, Michael Keaton, Sacha Baron Cohen and Jeremy Strong revolves around the infamous trial of ‘The Chicago Seven’ who were found guilty of inciting riots during the anti-war protests.

Emerald Fennell-directed Promising Young Woman revolves around an issue that will be relevant through the ages. The film follows Cassie’s (played by Carey Mulligan) journey as she sets out to avenge the death of her best friend after she was raped at a party.

Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari narrates the story of a Korean-American family that tries to keep itself together while navigating a financial crisis and trying to assimilate into the American culture. The film star Steven Yeun, who was also nominated in the Best Actor category for his role, is the lead actor.

Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland is essentially the story of a seemingly ordinary woman Fern (played by Frances McDormand) in her sixties who loses everything in the Great Recession and sets out on a journey through the American West, living like a nomad.

Riz Ahmed-starrer Sound of Metal is an American drama on the life of a heavy-metal drummer who loses his hearing abilities and how he copes with it. The film has been appreciated for destigmatising disabilities and showing the contrasting worlds of a hearing-impaired man’s sonic perspective versus the rest of the world.

Shaka King’s Judas and the Black Messiah tells the story of The Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton’s assassination. Set in Chicago 1968, the film touts the revolution started by Hampton (played by Daniel Kaluuya). It talks about America’s continued suppression of black voices through policing and surveillance and shows how standing up for what’s right is important to survive in a system that does not hesitate to manipulate its own people.

Anthony Hopkins starrer ‘The Father’ tells the story of an Octogenarian who struggles to hold on to his identity and all that he holds dear while gradually sliding into dementia. It navigates Hopkins’ gradual disorientation and crippling loss of memory and highlights the challenges a mental disorder poses in sustaining interpersonal relationships.