WOMEN TALKING Ties with THE BANSHEES OF INISHIRIN and EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE for Most Wins in 2022 AWFJ EDA Awards

BANSHEES wins Best Film, but Sarah Polley scores best Director for WOMEN TALKING. In our Female Focus sections, Viola Davis gets the nod for Outstanding Achievement and Danielle Deadwyler's turn in TILL is designated the Breakthrough Performance of 2022. Emma Thompson takes AWFJ's Grand Dame title and is honored for the bravest performance for GOOD LUCK TO YOU, LEO GRANDE. The talented Ana de Armas is deemed most deserving of a new agent to get her roles in better projects than BLONDE.

AWFJ has presented annual EDA Awards for 16 years, representing professional women critics' collective perspectives on movies and cinema culture in the movie awards arena, where female critics and critical opinion are still greatly underrepresented. AWFJ honors female creatives in non-gender specific awards categories and in unique Female Focus categories designated for women only.

"We are particularly proud that this year's member-determined roster of nominees included a goodly number of female contenders in non-gender specific categories. and that we have female winners in those categories, as well, including Sarah Polley who receives the EDA Award for Best Director for the multi-nominated and awarded WOMEN TALKING." said Jennifer Merin, President of the 95 members AWFJ. "We hope to see similar results at this year's Oscars and various guild awards. as well as with other critics awards groups."

In preparation for the awards season, AWFJ tracks femme-helmed and femme-centric films released throughout the year. The 2022 list of EDA Award-eligible femme-helmed and/or femme-centric films includes more than 500 titles. Many of these female made movies are small budget productions that receive neither wide distribution nor critical consideration.

This staggering number of independently produced films indicates the high level of female filmmaker proactivity in contradiction to the grim statistics consistently reported in major studies about female film production. AWFJ advocates for acknowledgment of these films and recognition for their filmmakers.

AWFJ BEST OF AWARDS

Best Film

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
THE FABELMANS
TAR
THE WOMAN KING
WOMEN TALKING

Best Director

The Daniels - EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE
Martin McDonagh - THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
Sarah Polley - WOMEN TALKING
Gina Prince-Bythewood - THE WOMAN KING
Steven Spieiberg - THE FABELMANS
Charlotte Wells - AFTERSUN

Best Screenplay, Original

AFTERSUN - Charlotte Wells
THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN - Martin McDonagh
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE - the DANIELS
THE FABELMANS - Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner
TAR - Todd Field
THE WOMAN KING - Dana Stevens and Maria Bello

Best Screenplay, Adapted

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT - Edward Berger, Lesley Patterson, Ian Stokell
GLASS ONION - Rian Johnson
SHE SAID - Rebecca Lenkiewicz
THE WHALE - Samuel D. Hunter
WOMEN TALKING - Sarah Polley and Miriam Toews
THE WONDER - Alice Birch, Emma Donoghue, Sebastian Lelio

Best Documentary

ALL THAT BREATHES - Shaunak Sen
ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED - Laura Poitras
DESCENDANT - Margaret Brown
FIRE OF LOVE - Sara Dosa
GOODNIGHT OPPY - Ryan White
THE JANES - Tia Lessen and Emma Pildes

Best Animated Film

GDT'S PINOCCHIO - Guillermo Del Toro and Mark Gustafson
MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON - Dean Fleischer-Camp
PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH - Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado
THE SEA BEAST - Chris Williams
TURNING RED - Domee Shi
WENDELL & WILD - Henry Selick

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett - TAR
Viola Davis - THE WOMAN KING
Danielle Deadwyler - TILL
Vicki Krieps - CORSAGE
Emma Thompson - GOOD LUCK TO YOU, LEO GRANDE
Michelle Yeoh - EVERTHING EVERYWHERE

Best Actress in a Supporting Role (tie)

Angela Bassett - WAKANDA FOREVER
Jessie Buckley - WOMEN TALKING
Hong Chau - THE WHALE
Kerry Condon - THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
Jamie Lee Curtis - EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE
Janelle Monae - GLASS ONION

Best Actor

Austin Butler - ELVIS
Colin Farrell - THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
Brendan Fraser - THE WHALE
Paul Mescal - AFTERSUN
Bill Nighy - LIVING
Jeremy Pope - THE INSPECTION

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Brendon Gleeson - THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
Brian Henry Tyree - CAUSEWAY
Barry Keoghan - THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
Eddie Redmayne - THE GOOD NURSE
Ke Huy Quan - EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE
Ben Wishaw - WOMEN TALKING

Best Ensemble Cast - Casting Director

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN - Louise Kiely
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE - Sarah Finn
TRIANGLE OF SADNESS - Pauline Hansson
WAKANDA FOREVER - Sarah Finn
THE WOMAN KING - Aisha Coley
WOMEN TALKING - John Buchan and Jason Knight

Best Cinematography (tie)

BANSHEES OF INISHERIN - Ben Davis
THE FABELMANS - Janusz Kaminski
EMPIRE OF LIGHT - Roger Deakins
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE - Larkin Seiple
TOP GUN: MAVERICK - Claudio Miranda
THE WOMAN KING - Polly Morgan

Best Editing

ELVIS - Jonathan Redmond and Matt Villa
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE - Paul Rogers
TAR - Monika Willis
TOP GUN - Eddie Hamilton
THE WOMAN KING - Terilyn A. Shropshire
WOMEN TALKING - Christopher Donaldson, Rosalyn Kallop

Best Non-English-Language Film (tie)

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
BARDO
DECISION TO LEAVE
HAPPENING
RRR
SAINT OMER

EDA FEMALE FOCUS AWARDS

These awards honor WOMEN only

Best Woman Director

Chinoye Chukwu - TILL
Marie Kreutzer - CORSAGE
Gina Prince-Bythewood - THE WOMAN KING
Sarah Polley - WOMEN TALKING
Maria Schrader - SHE SAID
Charlotte wells - AFTERSUN

Best Woman Screenwriter

Alice Birch - THE WONDER and MOTHERING SUNDAY
Rebecca Lenkiewicz - SHE SAID
Sarah Polley and Miriam Toews - WOMEN TALKING
Domee Shi - TURNING RED
Dana Stevens and Maria Bello - THE WOMAN KING
Charlotte Wells - AFTERSUN

Best Animated Female

Connie - Isabella Rossellni MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON
Izzy - Keke Palmer - LIGHTYEAR
Kat - Lyric Ross. WENDELL & WILD
Kitty Softpaws - Salma Hayed - PUSS IN BOOTS: LAST WISH
Mei - Rosalyn Chiang- TURNING RED
Ming - Sandra Oh - TURNING RED

Best Woman's Breakthrough Performance

Frankie Corio - AFTERSUN
Danielle Deadwyler - TILL
Stephanie Hsu - EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE
Thuso Mbedu - THE WOMAN KING
Amber Midthunder - PREY
Sadie Sink - THE WHALE

Outstanding Achievement by A Woman in The Film Industry

Viola Davis - For getting THE WOMAN KING made as her lifetime passion project and creating opportunities for other women creatives.
Nina Menkes and Maria Giese for making BRAINWASHED, analyzing and illustrating the misogynistic representation of women in Hollywood movies.
Domee Shi for being the first woman to direct a film for Pixar and for becoming Pixar's VP of Creative
Jacqueline Stewart for ongoing advocacy of the underrepresented and becoming president of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
Michelle Yeoh- lifetime achievement award

EDA SPECIAL MENTION AWARDS

Grand Dame Award for Defying Ageism

Jamie Lee Curtis
Viola Davis
Emma Thompson
Michelle Yeoh

Most Egregious Lovers' Age Difference Award

CONFESS FLETCH - Jon Hamm born 1971 and Lorenza Izzo born 1989
CRIMES OF THE FUTURE - Viggo Mortensen born 1958 and Lea Sedoux born 1985
DEEP WATER - Ben Affleck born 1972 and Ana de Armas born 1988
EIFEL - Romain Duris born 1974 and Emma Mackey born 1996

She Deserves A New Agent Award (NOTE: This is not a put down. On the contrary, it suggests that the actor is better than the role she's been given.)

Ana de Armas for BLONDE
Bryce DALLAS Howard for JURASIC WORLD DOMINION
Margot Robbie for BABYLON
Rebel Wilson for SENIOR YEAR

Most Daring Performance

Cate Blanchett - TAR
Viola Davis - THE WOMAN KING
Danielle Deadwyler - TILL
Emma Thompson - GOOD LUCK TO YOU, LEO GRANDE
Michelle Yeoh - EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE

Time Waster Remake or Sequel Award

FIRESTARTER
HALLOWEEN ENDS
JURASSIC WORLD DOMINION
PINOCCHIO (Disney)

AWFJ Hall of Shame Award (Women and men are eligible)

Alec Baldwin and the crew of RUST for continuing to deny responsibility for the on set shooting that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. The situation is still messy. A wrongful death lawsuit was settled, but the criminal investigation continues. In November, Baldwin sued crew members for giving him the loaded prop gun that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. News reports say Baldwin also texted Hutchins's husband, Matthew, saying that the gun was never meant to be fired at a particular camera angle.
BLONDE and Andrew Dominik
Will Smith for his behavior at the Oscars and in the aftermath
Harvey Weinstein for everything and forever

ABOUT THE ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists, Inc. (AWFJ) is a not-for-profit professional association of highly qualified female movie critics, reporters and feature writers working in print, broadcast and online media, dedicated to supporting work by and about women - both in front of and behind the cameras - through intra-group promotional activities, outreach programs and by presenting awards in recognition of outstanding accomplishments (the best and worst) by and about women in the movies. AWFJ was founded in 2006 by Jennifer Merin, Maitland McDonagh, Joanna Langfield and Jenny Halper. In addition to the year end awards, AWFJ presents EDA Awards at partner festivals, keeps an active and interactive record of fiction feature and documentary films by and/or about women, and/or are of particular interest to women because they focus on women's issues.