‘Banshees of Inisherin’ and ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ Tie For Most Wins in Alliance of Women Film Journalists’ EDA Awards

‘Banshees of Inisherin’ and ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ Tie For Most Wins in Alliance of Women Film Journalists’ 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. 

Note: PopLifeSTL.com Managing Editor and Founder Lynn Venhaus has been a member of AWFJ since 2014, along with St. Louis colleagues Martha Baker, Diane Carson and Cate Marquis and former St. Louisan Michelle (McCue) Hannett, , managing editor of We Are Movie Geeks.


AWFJ BEST OF AWARDS

These awards are presented to women and/or men without gender consideration

Best Film

Colin Farrell and Kerry Condon in the film THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN. Photo by Jonathan Hession. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2022 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved
  • 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 – EVERYTHING 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

WOMEN TALKING (2022) Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, and Jessie Buckley CR: Michael Gibson/United Artists Releasing
  • 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
Danielle Deadwyler in “Till”

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

Emma Thompson
  • 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. We welcome information that will allow us to keep our lists updated. Lists are made available to members and the general public on our Web site at AWFJ.org. For further information, contact AWFJ President Jennifer Merin at awfjinc@gmail.com.

‘Women Talking,’ ‘The Sex Lives of College Girls’ Receive SOFEE Honor

‘Women Talking,’ ‘The Sex Lives of College Girls’ Receive SOFEE Honor

The Critics Choice Association (CCA) Women’s Committee is pleased to announce “Women Talking” (United Artists Releasing) and “The Sex Lives of College Girls” (HBO Max) will receive the Seal of Female Empowerment in Entertainment. Called the “SOFEE,” the Seal recognizes outstanding new films and television series that illuminate the female experience and perspective through authentically told female-driven stories.

“Women Talking” focuses on a group of Mennonite women who gather to determine what action to take after rampant sexual abuse is condoned by the male leaders of the community. Written, directed, and produced by Sarah Polley from the novel by Miriam Toews, the drama explores the themes of sisterhood, autonomy, and justice through the eyes of women who have lived their entire lives inside a closed, conservative, rural community.

“I am so thrilled our film has been included amongst the incredible films receiving this honor, and so grateful for this initiative to encourage more films that tell women’s stories,” wrote Polley in a letter to the CCA membership. “Sometimes, when embarking on a project like this one, it’s easy to feel lost and unsure. Especially when you are telling a story about a community that has never been told. You must break and remake yourself in the process of finding your true voice. Thank you for creating this seal which helps a lot of us who have been lost to feel seen.”

The Sex Lives of College Girls

“The Sex Lives of College Girls” is a female-led scripted comedy series following four very different freshman girls at a prestigious college in Vermont. Led by a diverse cast that stars Pauline Chalamet, Amrit Kaur, Alyah Chanelle Scott, and Reneé Rapp, these young women juggle their educational aspirations with their newfound freedom and burgeoning sex lives. Created and written by Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble, and with a majority of female writers and directors, the series showcases young women  navigating the beginning of adulthood through diverse, relatable and witty stories. 

“With diverse female representation behind and in front of the camera, ‘The Sex Lives of College Girls’ is the perfect example of what we are looking for when awarding the SOFEE,” said Tara McNamara, Chair of the CCA Women’s Committee. “Women write and produce the series, and their point of view shines through in the sometimes relatable, always hilarious stories that may bring back cringey memories for many women. The show’s sex positive message is reflected differently for each of the four main characters, allowing women from all walks of life to see elements of their own journeys represented on-screen.”

Both “Women Talking” and “The Sex Lives of College Girls” received perfect scores in the numerical formula that is used to determine if new titles, nominated by CCA Women’s Committee members, are eligible for a SOFEE. Qualifying projects will have a prominent female character arc, give female characters at least equal screen time to male characters, have female leaders behind the scenes, and pass elements highlighted in the Bechdel test. To be considered, new film and television releases must possess an artistic and storytelling value and exceptionality, and score at least 7 out of a possible 10 points in the SOFEE rubric, which can be found at CriticsChoice.com. There are no limits or quotas governing the number of SOFEE seals the CCA may grant.

The Seal of Female Empowerment in Entertainment is issued by the CCA Women’s Committee. Members include Tara McNamara (Chair), Hillary Atkin, Semira Ben-Amor, Christina Birro, Lauren Bradshaw, Jamie Broadnax, TJ Callahan, Natasha Gargiulo, Toni Gonzales, Teri Hart, Laura Hurley, Susan Kamyab, Louisa Moore, Gayl Murphy, Mary Murphy, Patricia Puentes, Christina Radish, Amanda Salas, Rachel Smith, Sammi Turano, and Lynn Venhaus, as well as CCA board member Paulette Cohn.

WOMEN TALKING (2022) Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, and Jessie Buckley CR: Michael Gibson/United Artists Releasing

About the Critics Choice Association (CCA)

The Critics Choice Association is the largest critics organization in the United States and Canada, representing more than 600 media critics and entertainment journalists. It was established in 2019 with the formal merger of the Broadcast Film Critics Association and the Broadcast Television Journalists Association, recognizing the intersection between film, television, and streaming content. For more information, visit: www.CriticsChoice.com.