Age: 44
female
Chloé Zhao (born Zhao Ting, in Chinese: 赵婷; 31 March 1982) is a Chinese-born filmmaker. She is known primarily for her work on independent films. For her film Nomadland (2020), Zhao is the second of three women to win the Academy Award for Best Director. Songs My Brothers Taught Me (2015), her debut feature film, premiered at Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim and earned a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. The Rider (2017) was critically acclaimed and received nominations for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Film and Best Director. Zhao garnered international recognition with the American film Nomadland (2020), which she wrote, produced, edited and directed, and which won numerous accolades, including the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. Earning four Academy Award nominations for the film, Zhao won Best Picture and Best Director, becoming the first woman of color to win the latter. She also won awards for directing at the Directors Guild of America Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and British Academy Film Awards, becoming the second female winner of each of them. Zhao co-wrote and directed the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film Eternals (2021). Her latest film, Hamnet, premiered at the 52nd Telluride Film Festival to critical acclaim. Description above from the Wikipedia article Chloé Zhao, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Set against the backdrop of the Great Depression and World War II, Lydia chronicles the rise of a young woman with a guitar, defying racial and gender norms to carve out a groundbreaking career in music. Born in Houston, Texas, to a migrant family, Lydia learns guitar from her mother. She grows up singing on street corners, working in cotton fields, and performing wherever people gather, all while facing the harsh realities of poverty and discrimination. With her soulful, unadorned voice and unique twelve-string guitar, Lydia breaks barriers to become the first Mexican-American recording star. But her path to fame is anything but easy. Through each episode, we see Lydia battle against industry prejudice, financial hardship, and societal expectations of women, while capturing the hope and struggle of an entire generation of Mexican-Americans seeking their place in a country that often denies their identity.
