And the 2021 Best Picture Oscar Goes to… Nomadland

At the 93rd Academy Awards, which took place on April 25 in Los Angeles, Nomadland took home the coveted Best Picture prize.

It was a stellar selection of films in the category, which saw The Father, Judas and the Black Messiah, Mank, Minari, Nomadland, Promising Young Woman, Sound of Metal and The Trial of the Chicago 7 all nominated.

Excitingly, two of the films — Nomadland and Promising Young Woman — were written and directed by woman and starred powerhouse female leads.

Chloé Zhao did an exceptional job writing and directing the beautifully crafted Nomadland, which stars Frances McDormand as Fern — a woman who has lost everything in the global financial crisis and now spends her days traversing America in her van, acquiring work where and whenever she can.

McDormand stars opposite real-life nomads in this ode to simplicity and anti-capitalism with impeccable performances across the board.

And of course, Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman is shaping up to be one of the most celebrated, and important, films of the #MeToo era.

The film stars Carey Mulligan as Cassie, an almost 30-year-old former medical student who, frequents clubs and pretending to be black-out-drunk in the hopes of being “helped” home by a man. Once they get behind closed doors, however, Cassie reveals that she is in fact stone-cold sober — a nasty surprise for her “knight-in-shining-armour” who has gone from helpful to harrassing.