Filmmaker Chloé Zhao, has earned a reputation as one of the most decorated women of color in the filmmaking industry with various awards, including the Academy Award for Best Director for “Hamnet.”
This was Zhao’s second time winning Best Director; her first win was in 2021 for “Nomadland,” which also won 34 awards since its release in February 2021, 13 for directing and nine for editing. The achievement made her the most-awarded person in a single awards season.
Growing up in Beijing, China, Zhao was fascinated by the Old West since childhood, according to New York University. Her work is inspired by the idea of reinventing Western-style films. She loved visiting Mongolia, where there were more plains than China.
Zhao’s life was guided by a quest for information, according to Rotten Tomatoes. While living in Beijing, she felt trapped. When her family moved to London in the mid-to-late 1990s, she researched what she missed in her home country. Through her research, she learned how to rule out the difference between fact versus fiction statements about China, leading her to study politics at Mount Holyoke College.
While studying politics, she realized what she loved most was learning people’s stories, according to Rotten Tomatoes. This led her to transition to film by attending NYU’s graduate film program. In the program, she made three short films: “Post” (2008), “The Atlas Mountains” (2009) and “Daughters” (2010).
“Daughters” premiered at the Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival. The film won numerous awards, including Best Student Live Action Short. She then went on to make her debut feature film, “Songs My Father Taught Me,” which is a Native American drama. The film premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival’s U.S. Dramatic Competition and was nominated for Best First Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards.
Besides being a filmmaker, Zhao trained to be a death doula, according to the New York Times. She recently finished level one training in the United Kingdom, where trainees had to research how Indigenous cultures deal with death and dying. This knowledge helped Zhao re-create older emotional perspectives in the film “Hamnet.”
Zhao wanted to become a death doula because she had a fear of dying her whole life, according to the New York Times. Now in her 40s, she is still afraid of death and hasn’t been able to live a full life.
“When you’re in your 40s, a midlife crisis is the best thing that can happen to you, because you’re on your way to a rebirth,” Zhao said in the article. “You can’t run from this feeling. Your body is changing, and you can feel death.”
Despite her fear, the idea of death inspired her to take a sensitive approach to filming “Hamnet,” according to National Public Radio. Zhao’s filmmaking process is rooted in her beliefs in ceremonies and rituals, making them a part of her filmmaking process.
“If you’re captain of any ship, you are not just giving instructions; people are also looking to you energetically as well,” Zhao said in the article. “Whether it’s calmness, it’s groundedness, it’s feeling safe: then everyone else is going to tune to you.”
For her next feature film, Zhao wants to make a documentary, according to Deadline. However, she is apprehensive because she would be stepping out of her comfort zone, so fans will have to wait for what happens next.
