Chloe Zhao’s ‘Nomadland’ faces backlash in China as director's old interview resurfaces

Chloe Zhao made history at this year's Golden Globe by becoming the first woman of Asian descent to bag an award in the Best Director category for 'Nomadland'. Now, Chloe Zhao and her movie is facing backlash in China. 

The national backlash comes after social media users brought out Chloe's old interviews, where  Zhao, who was born in Beijing, criticized her native country and reportedly called China "a place where there are lies everywhere." The magazine which had published the interview, deleted the section in mid-February, days before the China release date was announced.

Another interview, which led people to question her citizenship was her recent interview with Australian media in which she allegedly said "the US is now my country," although, the magazine said that they misquoted the director and later correcting it and revealed that Zhao said the ''US is not my country''. 

After the interview surfaced,  many questioned Zhao on social media asking her which country she actually belongs to.  Some even stated in that if she is an American and why should the Chinese celebrate her success? 

The sudden online backlash is signalling that it may harm Zhao's movie theatrical release. Even though her historical win was celebrated in China, and many state media called the Beijing-born filmmaker "the pride of China.''.

Chinese film authorities reportedly approved the film for a theatrical release on April 23.

After the outrage, now the film's official poster is not available on any box office site and a promotional post by the NAAC celebrating Zhao’s Golden Globe win has also been removed.
 
Apart from 'Nomadland', the backlash may harm Zhao future as well. The director's another major project, Marvel's 'Eternals' which is also in the pipeline and is scheduled to hit the theatres in November this year and like always, China is a major market for Marvel movies.