After the economic collapse of a corporate town in rural Nevada, Fern (Frances Mc Dormand) he loads his luggage into his van and sets out on the road in search of a life outside conventional society, like a modern nomad. This third feature by director Chloé Zhao, NOMADLAND sees in the cast the presence of the real nomads Linda May, Swankie and Bob Wells as Fern's mentors and travel companions as he explores the vast landscapes of the American West.

Nomadland Leone d’Oro at the Venice Film Festival also received a special mention from the Signis International Jury (World Catholic Association for Communication). It was also presented in Toronto and NYFF in 2020.

The greeting that the real protagonists of this real story exchange after each meeting on the streets of the American dream is not a definitive farewell. "See you along the streets". Rather it is the result of the need for work combined with the desire for freedom that unites many Americans "homeless" but not "homeless".

Empire is a charming town that developed on the edge of the desert to house the workers of the factory born in the desert. When the factory closes, all its inhabitants are forced to abandon it in search of a new job. And along with the town, the postal code no longer needed also disappears. Empire is a non-place, but also the departure of this traveling movie which is based on the extraordinary interpretation of Mc Dormand in the role of Fern. Widowed by Bo, also a worker of the closed company, the protagonist, only professional interpreter, she decides to live out of necessity in a van that she herself equips with all those small details necessary to rebuild a broken life: But her roots and Empire are still within her in her gaze to the desert that surrounds her and the mountains that stand out motionless on the horizon as well as to her new travel companions, encroaching on the documentary genre. However, it is only a look that rejects any lasting relationship that is offered to her by the new life. The protagonist wanders around the real faces of the new American reality, touching them every time to start again. The social themes of the exploitation of the large distribution giants, false places of entertainment are laid bare by the director who in a dry language presents them to the viewer the qaule he can only be refreshed in front of the breathtaking landscapes of the American Wild West.

This can be understood from the director's account of what happened during the shooting:

In the autumn of 2018, mentor giraffe in NOMADLAND in Scottsbluff, in Nebraska, near a frozen beetroot field, I was leafing through the pages of Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire, a book that was given to me by a person I met along the way. I came across this quote:

“Men come and go, cities are born and die, entire civilizations disappear; the earth remains, only slightly modified. The earth and the beauty that tears the heart remain, where there are no hearts to tear. Sometimes I think, certainly in a perverse way, that man is a dream, the thought is an illusion, and only the rock is real. The rock and the sun”.

For the next four months, nomads came and went as we traveled and filmed – some kept rocks found during their wanderings, with their sun-powered houses on wheels. They dispensed stories and wisdom in front of and behind the camera lens. Having grown up in cities in China and England, I've always been deeply drawn to the open road, an idea that I find typically American: the endless journey in search of what lies beyond the horizon. I tried to capture this idea in the film, even knowing that it is not possible to truly describe the American road to another person. You have to discover it for yourself.- Chloe Zhao-

At this moment when cinemas are closing, this glimpse of the third millennium will be available from 30 next April on the STAR platform within Disney + but also soon in cinemas to enjoy Fren's gaze towards the non-place that is the American dream.