• Friday, Jan. 11, 2019
"Roma" tops Women Film Journalists' competition with 5 EDA Awards
A scene from "Roma" (photo by Alfonso Cuaron/courtesy of Netflix)
  • NEW YORK
  • --

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists has announced the winners of the 2018 AWFJ EDA Awards. This year, AWFJ presents EDA Awards in 25 categories, divided into three sections: the standard “Best Of” section, the Female Focus awards and the irreverent EDA Special Mention awards—including Actress Most in Need of a New Agent and the AWFJ Hall of Shame Award.

In the “Best Of” section, this year’s big winner is Roma, garnering five EDA Awards for Best Film, Best Non-English Language Film, and Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Director for Alfonso Cuaron.

The Favourite was honored in the “Best Of,” “Female Focus,” and “EDA Special Mention” categories with a total of four awards.  The film’s star Olivia Colman was honored with the Best Actress and the Bravest Performance awards, while the film’s writer Deborah Davis received two wins for Best Original Screenplay (with co-writer Tony McNamara) and Best Woman Screenwriter.

Marielle Heller’s Can You Ever Forgive Me? won three awards including Best Supporting Actor for Richard E. Grant; Best Adapted Screenplay to writers Nicole Holofcener and Jeff White; and Best Woman Director to Heller.

Action film Black Panther was awarded Best Ensemble Cast and cinematographer Rachel Morrison earned Outstanding Achievement By A Woman distinction for paving the road for women cinematographers for her work on Mudbound, which garnered her a history making 2018 Best Cinematography Oscar nomination. 

Morgan Neville’s documentary on Mr. Rogers--Won’t You Be My Neighbor?--was named Best Documentary, and Best Animated Film went to Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsay and Rodney Rothman. 

Additional acting awards went to Ethan Hawke for Best Actor for First Reformed; Best Supporting Actress to Regina King for her role in If Beale Street Could Talk; and newcomer Thomasin McKenzie was honored with the Best Breakthrough Performance Award for her starring role in Leave No Trace.

“Representing women film critics’ perspectives on the world’s constantly evolving cinema scene, the Alliance of Women Film Journalists is proud that our 2018 EDA Awards nominees and winners genuinely reflect the movie industry’s advances in the cause of equality and diversity,” states Jennifer Merin, EDA Awards and AWJF founder and film critic. “Our EDA Awards always honor the year’s best regardless of gender, but we also recognize the need to have categories that focus specifically on women’s achievements in an industry that still has a long way to go to reach gender parity and equal opportunity for all.”

This year on their final ballots, AWFJ members singled out films that told stories centering on strong and complex female characters from diverse backgrounds. The organization honored the excellent work of female directors and screenwriters. And, as is customary, they have called out some egregious choices and behavior that hopefully will not be repeated in the future.

“All in all, 2018 produced a bumper crop of female-directed and female-centered films,” added Merin. “Too few of them reached the mainstream, but we hope that AWFJ and the EDA Awards can help to rush such films into the current.”

Below is the entire list of this year’s winners: 

AWFJ BEST OF AWARDS
These awards are presented to women and/or men without gender consideration.

Best Film
ROMA      

Best Director
Alfonso Cuaron
ROMA

Best Screenplay, Original
THE FAVOURITE
Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara

Best Screenplay, Adapted
CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?
Nicole Holofcener, Jeff White  

Best Documentary
WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?
Morgan Neville 

Best Animated Film
SPIDER-MAN INTO SPIDER-VERSE
Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsay, Rodney Rothman 

Best Actress
Olivia Colman
THE FAVOURITE

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Regina King
IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK 

Best Actor
Ethan Hawke
FIRST REFORMED

Best Actor in a Supporting Road
Richard E Grant
CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?

Best Ensemble Cast
BLACK PANTHER
Sarah Finn, Casting Director

Best Cinematography
ROMA
Alfonso Cuaron  

Best Editing
ROMA
Alfonso Cuaron, Adam Gough   

Best Non-English-Language Film
ROMA
Alfonso Cuaron
Mexico

EDA FEMALE FOCUS AWARDS
These awards honor WOMEN only.

Best Woman Director
Marielle Heller
CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?

Best Woman Screenwriter
Deborah Davis
THE FAVOURITE

Best Animated Female
Elastagirl
Holly Hunter
INCREDIBLES 2

Best Breakthrough Performance
Thomasin McKenzie
LEAVE NO TRACE  

Outstanding Achievement by A Woman in The Film Industry
Rachel Morrison
For paving the road for women cinematographers with her Oscar nomination for MUDBOUND and scoring as DP on BLACK PANTHER.  

 
EDA SPECIAL MENTION AWARDS

Actress Defying Age and Ageism         
Viola Davis – WIDOWS

Bravest Performance                  
Olivia Colman – THE FAVOURITE

Actress Most in Need Of A New Agent
Jennifer Lawrence – RED SPARROW

Most Egregious Age Difference Between The Lead and The Love Interest Award
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE FALLOUT – Tom Cruise and Rebecca Ferguson

Remake or Sequel That Shouldn’t Have Been Made
OVERBOARD  

AWFJ Hall of Shame Award
ALL ALLEGED ABUSERS: Including Weinstein, Moonves, CK, Spacey, Rush, Franco, Singer, Rose, Lauer et al.


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