Nomadland becomes the 1st movie from a female director to win best picture drama Golden Globe

Nomadland just made history at the Golden Globes.

The film from Chloé Zhao won the top prize of Best Motion Picture — Drama at Sunday's Golden Globes, becoming the first movie directed by a woman to ever win this award, according to Variety. Female-directed films have previously won Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy, most recently Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird, but never in the drama category.

The Golden Globes, which have for years been criticized for failing to recognize female directors, already made history in 2021 by nominating three women for Best Director, the most ever in one year. In addition to Zhao, who won the award, Promising Young Woman's Emerald Fennell and One Night in Miami's Regina King were also nominated. King's film, however, was one of a number of movies with a Black ensemble snubbed for a best picture nomination by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group that doesn't have a single Black member.

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Nomadland might be on track to also win Best Picture at the upcoming Academy Awards, although it wouldn't be the Oscars' first Best Picture winner from a female director, as Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker won in 2010. That year, Golden Globes voters gave their top drama prize to James Cameron's Avatar instead.