In these times of extreme tension between the United States and China, but also of anti-Asian racism in North America, the story could have looked like a fairy tale. Monday 1er March, a young Chinese filmmaker, Chloé Zhao, won the Golden Globe for best director for her film Nomadland. A distinction that no woman had won since Barbra Streisand in 1984, and a first for a person from Asia. At first, the Chinese took real pride in it. Finally, the talent of one of theirs was rewarded at the highest level in Hollywood. What is more, for a feminist film with a universal message.
But very quickly, public opinion turned. Chloé Zhao, born in 1982 and who, at the age of 15, went to study in Great Britain before going to live in the United States, has not always been kind to China. In an interview given in 2013 to Filmmaker Magazine, she remembered a country where, “When [elle] prop[t] teenage girl, lies were everywhere ”. In 2020, she also reportedly told the australian newspaper News.com : “The United States is now [now] my country. ” Strangely, the site would have corrected the quote a few days before the Golden Globes ceremony. Chloe Zhao would have actually said: “The United States is not [not] my country. “
Already, the previous film of Chloé Zhao, “The Rider”, had not been distributed in China.
Real shell? Self-censorship to avoid Beijing’s wrath? It did not take more for the Chinese nationalists to denounce this “double face” and call for a boycott of the film which should have been released in China on Friday 23 April. Douban, the company that was going to offer Nomadland for download, quickly ceased all promotion and the hashtag #Nomadland disappeared from social networks on Friday, March 5. Censorship. Will the film be released on April 23? Mystery.
Already, the previous film by Chloé Zhao, The Rider, had not been distributed in China. According to the daily Global Times, sounding board for nationalists, “Many Internet users” even wonder about the release in China of Chloé Zhao’s next film, Eternals, produced by Marvel Studios with Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek. Speaking badly about China comes at a price, especially in this glorious 100th anniversary year of the Chinese Communist Party, and those who risk it must pay it.
A major propaganda tool
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