Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland,” filmed in Empire, Nevada, won best picture Sunday at the 93rd Academy Awards, where the China-born Zhao became the first woman of color to win best director and the second woman to win the award.
“My entire ‘Nomadland’ company, what a crazy, once-in-a-lifetime journey we’ve all been on together,” Zhao said.
It was the first Oscar for the 39-year-old Zhao, who was born in Beijing and went to college and film school in the United States. “Nomadland” is her third feature.
Star Frances McDormand was named best actress.
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“Nomadland” has won four prizes, including best picture, at the British Academy Film Awards.
The film’s director, Chloe Zhao, became only the second woman to win the best director trophy, and star Frances McDormand was named best actress.
“Nomadland” also took the cinematography prize on Sunday.
"Nomadland" was filmed in Empire, Nevada, a small town about 100 miles north of Reno in Washoe County.
The film previously won Best Picture at the Golden Globe Awards.
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Empire, Nevada is a small town of about 65 people, about 100 miles north of Reno. So when a film crew decided to shoot a movie there, it came as a surprise to its residents.
"We just kind of live our slow day-to-day life and somebody popped up and wanted to do a movie and two years later, here we are with award shows and everything else," Brandy Wilber, Empire resident said. "We didn't see that coming."
"Nomadland" won the Best Picture at the Golden Globe awards, last week.
"We thought it was going to be a small, kind of you know, local movie and it's turned into something really big," Makenzie Etcheverry, Empire resident said.
Etcheverry is Wilber's 14-year-old daughter. The two of them and another daughter played a small role in the movie. Their scene was shot at Big 5 Sporting Goods in Fallon.
"It was really cool," Etcheverry said. "I was so nervous that day."
"I don't care if I'm in it or not but watching my kids in it, that was special," Wilber said.
Brandy Wilber and her daughters appear with Frances McDormand in Nomadland."Nomadland" Searchlight Pictures
Another part of the movie was filmed at Desert Rose RV Park in Fernley.
Frances McDormand plays the role of Fern. She loses her job when Empire's gypsum mine closes down in 2011. From there, she takes odd jobs around the country and lives out of her van.
"It is about a woman who lost her husband and decides to take her own path, travel the country and live her life," Etcheverry said.
United States Gypsum Corporation closed its mine in Empire during the recession in real life. The population dropped, drastically. Empire Gypsum Co. reopened the mine in 2016. Today, about 65 people live in the town.
"The mine shut down and a lot of people were left jobless, a lot of people, once you lose your job here, you also lose your home because everything is company-owned housing," Wilber said.
Fern is a fictional character but Nomadland is based off things that really happened.
"Maybe this particular character didn't actually exist but along the lines of what happened to her did happen to a lot of people," Wilber said.
Filming started in 2018. Wilber was tasked with finding good locations to film around Empire.
"We did a lot of site-seeing, we did a lot of driving around the side-by-side, checking out houses, checking out the wall board plant and ultimately, they loved it," Wilber said.
Since the movie was set in the year after the mine closed, residents did their part to make the town look abandoned.
"They didn't want it to look like anybody was here so we shut down the mine for a day, we shut down the haul trucks for a day, we shut down the town," Wilber said.
Wilber held a viewing of the movie at Empire County Store when it was released.
"We had quite a few people from Gerlach and Empire show up and kind of see our scenes which was really cool to do," Etcheverry said.
Of course, it brought back memories of the town's difficult days, 10 years ago.
"There's a lot of people in Gerlach that lived this and it was a little tug at your heart strings a little bit," Wilber said.
Overall, they say being a part of the movie, meeting the actors and film crew was an amazing experience. Etcheverry said it was great to work with McDormand.
"She was really cool, just down to earth," Etcheverry said. "Before we filmed the scene, she was kind of getting me used to the cameras. We just talked the whole time. It was really cool."
The film shows a little bit of northern Nevada, showcasing the small town of Empire, the wide-open spaces and natural beauty that surrounds it.
"You get out of Reno, you get our of Fernley and that's what you see is what's in that movie," Wilber said. "Her walking out that door of that house, that's my view every morning when I wake up. That's the view out my dining room window."
