Chinese-born female director Chloe Zhao won Best Director award at 2020 North Carolina Film Critics Association (NCFCA) Awards for film Nomadland on Monday, continuing to sweep the awards circuit in the US.

Zhao became the first female to win the NCFCA Award for Best Director. Her film from Disney's Searchlight Pictures also took home three other top honors of the US critics group's annual awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay for Zhao, Best Actress for Frances McDormand, and Best Cinematography for Joshua James Richards.

Based on Jessica Bruder's 2017 non-fiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century, the film stars two-time Oscar winner 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.

The 38-year-old filmmaker is racking up audience and critics' awards and accolades, gathering momentum to put her and Nomadland hot on the Oscar contender trail.

Nomadland nabbed the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2020.

The film has piled up awards and nominations from coast to coast in the United States in recent weeks, including Best Director awards from the Boston Online Film Critics Association, the Boston Society of Film Critics, the Florida Film Critics Circle, Indiana Film Journalists Association awards, IndieWire Critics Poll, the New York Film Critics Circle and the LA Film Critics Association.

A24's drama film Minari is another big winner of the NCFCA awards, taking home four top honors. The film snagged Best Narrative Film award, best supporting actress for Youn Yuh-jung, Best Original Screenplay for Lee Isaac Chung, and the Ken Hanke Memorial Tarheel Award for actor Will Patton.

According to the NCFCA, it's the fourth year that the critics group didn't award Best Director to the person credited with helming the film that won Best Narrative Film. For the third year in a row, the NCFCA has voted a film not primarily in English as Best Narrative Film. South Korean black comedy thriller film Parasite won the award in 2019, and Mexican drama Roma won it in 2018.

Disney and Pixar's Soul took home two awards, including Best Animated Film and Best Music.

Delroy Lindo won Best Actor award for his performance in Netflix's war drama film Da 5 Bloods. Sacha Baron Cohen was named Best Supporting Actor for Netflix's historical legal drama film The Trial of the Chicago 7.

Other major winners included Danish comedy drama Another Round for Best Foreign Language Film, Netflix's Dick Johnson is Dead for Best Documentary, and Warner Bros.' Tenet for Best Special Effects.

The NCFCA are comprised of film journalists who either live in North Carolina or write for outlets that serve readers in the state.