LOS ANGELES -- Chinese female director Chloe Zhao's feature film Nomadland scored four nominations including Best Motion Picture-Drama on Wednesday for the 78th Annual Golden Globe Awards.

The road-trip drama, starring Frances McDormand, will compete against The Father, Mank, Promising Young Woman and The Trial of the Chicago 7 for the top prize in the motion picture drama category.

Zhao, a favorite among critics in the lead-up to the Oscars this year, received two individual nominations, namely Best director and Best Screenplay, while two-time Oscar winner McDormand was nominated for best performance by an actress in a motion picture-drama.

Based on Jessica Bruder's 2017 non-fiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century, the film stars McDormand as an out-of-work woman who packs her van and sets off from her small town to travel around the vast landscape of the American West, exploring a life outside of conventional society as a modern-day nomad.

Zhao, born in Beijing in 1982, made history to be the first Chinese woman and woman of Asian descent recognized in the Golden Globe's directing category.

It's unprecedented that more than one female director was nominated in the category. Zhao, alongside fellow female directors Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) and Regina King (One Night in Miami), will compete against two male directors, David Fincher (Mank) and Aaron Sorkin (Trial of the Chicago 7).

Zhao will compete for Best Screenplay with Emerald Fennell, Aaron Sorkin, Jack Fincher (Mank), Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller (The Father).