Education Quote by Chloé Zhao

Zhao’s line doubles as a filmmaking credo and a quiet rebuke to the way pop culture trains us to look at other people: as types, not as lives. “Openness” isn’t just a vibe here; it’s a method. She’s describing access as something earned through posture, not extracted through power. The key move is her pairing of “openness” with “without judgment.” It implies that judgment is the default setting in most encounters, especially when a camera, a budget, or a credential is involved. Her promise is almost transactional: suspend your verdict, and people will hand you their interior world.

The subtext lands harder when you place it against Zhao’s signature approach in Nomadland and The Rider, where non-actors play versions of themselves and the films borrow the textures of real precarious lives. In that context, “open their lives to you” isn’t sentimental; it’s ethically loaded. She’s acknowledging how intimate (and potentially invasive) storytelling can be, and suggesting a constraint: you don’t get to translate someone else’s pain into art unless you’ve met them as a person first.

There’s also a cultural critique tucked inside the softness. Modern media thrives on hot takes, moral sorting, and quick diagnosis. Zhao is arguing for the opposite tempo: time, listening, restraint. It’s a reminder that authenticity isn’t a filter you apply in post; it’s a relationship you build, and one you can ruin the moment you show up with conclusions already made.