The director of Nomadland Chloé Zhao, or Zhao Ting (赵婷), is a Chinese filmmaker who resides in California. Akin to millions of Chinese youths born after the 1980s, Zhao left her home in Beijing as a teenager and initially became an international student who pursued her study overseas. Her journey spread across the two sides of the Atlantic, from the UK to the US, while her root was at least one Pacific away.