When Jessica Bruder was reporting
Nomadland, her award-winning gonzo investigation of transient American seniors who follow seasonal employment while living out of their vans, she never imagined that the nomads with whom she was up to her elbows in campground toilets would become movie stars. Almost four years out from the book's publication,
Nomadland has become a feature film, as well as an awards season darling. Nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Director,
Nomadland is directed by Chloe Zhao, starring Frances McDormand as a fictional protagonist alongside the real-life nomads featured in Bruder's book, who appear as themselves. For years, Bruder lived with and reported on these itinerant laborers, traveling the American West in her own van (christened Van Halen) and working grueling jobs alongside them everywhere from an Amazon fulfillment center to a sugar beet harvesting plant.