‘Nomadland’ wins best picture at 93rd Academy Awards. See the full list of winners.

By JAKE COYLE, AP Film Writer
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Chloe Zhao’s “Nomadland,” a wistful portrait of itinerant lives on open roads across the American West, won best picture Sunday at the 93rd Academy Awards, where the China-born Zhao also became just the second woman to win best director, and the first woman of color.

The “Nomadland” victory, while widely expected, nevertheless capped the extraordinary rise of Zhao, a lyrical filmmaker whose winning film is just her third, and which — with a budget less than $5 million and featuring a cast populated by non-professional actors — ranks as one of the most modest-sized movies to win Hollywood’s top honor. Zhao’s next film, Marvel’s “Eternals,” has a budget approximately 40 times that of “Nomadland.”

Keep scrolling for a photo gallery of scenes from the red carpet

But “Nomadland,” as a plain-spoken meditation on solitude, grief and grit, stuck a chord in a pandemic-ravaged year. It made for an unlikely Oscar champ: A film about people who gravitate to the margins took center stage.

“I have always found goodness in the people I’ve met everywhere I went in the world,” said Zhao when accepting best director. “This is for anyone who has the faith and the courage to hold on to the goodness in themselves and to hold on the goodness in other no matter how difficult it is to do that.”

With a howl, “Nomadland” star Frances McDormand implored people to seek out her film and others on the big screen. Released by the Disney-owned Searchlight Pictures, “Nomadland” premiered at a drive in and debuted in theaters, but found its largest audience on Hulu.

“Please watch our movie on the largest screen possible and one day very, very soon, take everyone you know into a theater, shoulder to shoulder in that dark space, and watch every film that’s represented here tonight,” McDormand said.

Soon after, McDormand won best actress, too. The win puts McDormand (previously a winner for “Fargo” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”) in rare company as a three-time acting winner. Only Katherine Hepburn (a four-time winner) has won best actress more times.

In the night’s biggest surprise, best actor went to Anthony Hopkins for the dementia drama “The Father.” The award had been widely expected to go to Chadwick Boseman for his final performance in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” Hopkins was not in attendance. More coverage here:

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THE WINNERS

Complete list of winners at the 93rd Academy Awards:

Best picture: “Nomadland”

Best actress: Frances McDormand, “Nomadland”

Best actor: Anthony Hopkins, “The Father”

Original screenplay: “Promising Young Woman,” Emerald Fennell

Adapted screenplay: Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton, “The Father”

International film: “Another Round,” Denmark

Best supporting actor: Daniel Kaluuya, “Judas and the Black Messiah”

Best supporting actress: Yuh-Jung Youn, “Minari.”

Best director: Chloé Zhao, “Nomadland”

Sound: “Sound of Metal.”

Makeup and hairstyling: “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”

Costume design: Ann Roth, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”

Live action short film: “Two Distant Strangers”

Animated short film: “If Anything Happens I Love You”

Animated feature: “Soul”

Documentary short subject: “Colette”

Documentary feature: “My Octopus Teacher”

Visual effects: “Tenet”

Production design: “Mank”

Cinematography: “Mank”

Film editing: “Sound of Metal”

Original score: “Soul,” Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste

Original song: “Fight for You” from “Judas and the Black Messiah” (Music by H.E.R. and Dernst Emile II; Lyric by H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas)

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