Wearing white sneakers and talking about the essential goodness of human beings, Beijing-born Chloé Zhao was without a doubt the face of the 93rd Academy Awards as she accepted the Best Director Oscar for Nomadland.
‘Small’, ‘serious’ and ‘humble’ could be words used describe both Zhao and the televised ceremony, which was produced by Steven Soderbergh, Stacey Sher, and Glenn Collins. They used pandemic limitations to reinvent the glitzy awards-show formula and promised a movie-length cinematic treat for viewers. Soderbergh had said earlier that he wanted ‘the whole thing to announce itself out of the gate as different.’
