It's amusing that 'Nomadland' director Chloé Zhao won the statuette of colour

America continued to make classificatory history on Monday early morning when it announced that its Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had awarded one of its most coveted awards to a ‘woman of colour’ for the first time.

'Nomadland' director Chloé Zhao, understandably, is not complaining. She has received the coveted ‘statuette of (bright) colour’ as best director and, as she said in her acceptance speech, she has ‘always found goodness in the people’ she has met, people of no colour at all included. Good for her.

Lest we be accused of making too-hue and cry over hues as descriptors of ethnicities, let it be known that we are amused for Zhao, a Californian of Chinese nationality, to be described as the second woman in Oscar history to win the Best Director gong. (Pale-coloured Kathryn Bigelow had won the same award in 2009 for her film 'The Hurt Locker'.)


Woman of no colour Frances McDormand won the Best Actress as well as Best Film Oscars for 'Nomadland' — she is a co-producer of the movie — making her the first person with one nose and two eyes to win both categories in the same year.

Incidentally, Daniel Kaluuya won the Best Supporting Actor prize for 'Judas and the Non-White Messiah' while the veteran White actor Antony Hopkins won Best Actor for The Non-Mother. We toast their colourful talent loudly with an amber drink.