In this episode Mark talks about the 2020 Academy Award-winning American drama film "Nomadland" based upon the 2017 non-fiction book "Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-first Century" by Jessica Bruder. Written, edited, produced, and directed by Chloé Zhao, the film centres around the character of Fern (played by Frances McDormand), the recently-widowed, vandwelling nomad - who lost her job after the US Gypsum plant in Empire, Nevada, shut down, taking the entire community and ZIP Code with it - who travels across the United States of America seeking work as well as rendezvousing with other individuals who live the same nomadic lifestyle as she does - including real-life vandwellers such as Linda May, Swankie, and Bob Wells who play fictionalised versions of themselves. The film is an incredibly emotional, touching, and moving insight into the real lives of people who believe that no goodbye is final and instead is merely a "see you down the road. The film also stars David Straitham as Dave, who has feelings for Fern and who wants nothing more than to spend more time with her in a more stationary environment - however, Fern's gaze is always to the open road and the nomadic lifestyle that she loves and embraces.
