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La Biennale di Venezia congratulates Laura Pausini, an Italian talent who won the Golden Globe tonight in Los Angeles for Best Original Song from The Life Ahead (La Vita davanti a sé) by Edoardo Ponti, with Sophia Loren, and congratulates Chloé Zhao and the production of Nomadland – the film that won the Golden Lion at the 77th Venice International Film Festival 2020 – for the two prestigious Golden Globe awards they received respectively as Best Director (the first time it has been won by a woman since 1984) and a Best Motion Picture – Drama.

Starting with the Golden Lion at the 77th Venice Film Festival last September, awarded by the International Jury chaired by Cate Blanchett, Nomadland has continued to reap many important international acknowledgments, including the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, two Gotham Awards (Best Film and Audience Award) and three Satellite Awards (Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress). At the Golden Globes Nomadland had also received nominations for Best Actress (Frances McDormand) and Best Screenplay (Chloé Zhao).

Chloé Zhao is the fifth woman director of a Golden Lion film in Venice after Margarethe Von Trotta for Marianne and Juliane (Die bleierne zeit, 1981), Agnès Varda for Vagabond (Sans toit ni loi, 1985), Mira Nair for Monsoon Wedding (2001), Sofia Coppola for Somewhere (2010).

Nomadland is the third feature-length film by director Chloé Zhao (Songs my Brothers Taught Me, The Rider), produced and starring the Oscar-winning actress Frances McDormand, and adapted from the book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century (2017) by journalist Jessica Bruder. Searchlight Pictures acquired the international distribution rights for the film.

Nomadland tells the story of Fern (McDormand), a woman who, following the economic downfall of a rural town in Nevada, packs her bags and leaves with her van to try life on-the-road outside of conventional society, as a modern nomad. The film features the real-life nomads Linda May, Swankie and Bob Wells, who serve as mentors and companions to Fern in her journey across the vast landscape of the American West.

The 78th Venice International Film Festival, directed by Alberto Barbera and organized by La Biennale di Venezia, will take place from September 1st through 11th 2021.

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