Directing Masterclass - Chloe Zhao

The Irish Film & Television Academy, in association with Screen Ireland, presents a special Masterclass with Oscar-Winning Director Chloé Zhao. IFTA is delighted to welcome Oscar-winning Director, Writer & Editor Chloé Zhao for an IFTA Skills in Focus: Directing Masterclass. Within the past decade, Chloé Zhao has gone from the Graduate Film program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts to writing, directing, and even editing three independent features Songs My Brothers Taught Me, The Rider, and the Oscar-winning Nomadland, as well as one of Disney/Marvel’s most daring blockbusters - The Eternals. "With 34 awards season trophies for directing, 13 for screenplay and nine for editing [for Nomadland], Chloe Zhao has surpassed Alexander Payne (Sideways) as the most awarded person in a single awards season in the modern era." - Variety Zhao will join The Irish Academy to share her knowledge and expertise with Academy member and discuss the key skills and techniques that she uses to make incredible cinema. This discussion will be moderated by award-winning writer/director Ian Power (The Runway, The Tattoo)

“I felt very hopeless at the end of that film because it had no distribution. I got no phone calls from anyone to say here’s money to make your next film. I did a couple meetings but it was very much like oh it’s nice to meet you, and so it was a dark time and I learnt a lot of lessons from it. To look back at those six months thinking I really wasted a lot of energy feeling upset and hopeless. It's going to move in seasons, your career, that's a big lesson I have learnt.”

Chloe Zhao