AWFJ 2020 EDA Awards winners announced

UPDATE 01.05.21: Winners highlighted.

PREVIOUS 01.01.21

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists — of which I am a member — has announced the nominees of its 2020 EDA Awards. Links here go to my reviews, with reviews to come for more of those I haven’t yet reviewed. (I have a lot of writing to do!)

Winners will be announced on January 04, 2021.

And the nominees are:

AWFJ BEST OF AWARDS

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

Best Film
Minari
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Nomadland | WINNER
One Night in Miami
Promising Young Woman
The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best Director
Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman
Regina King – One Night in Miami
Kelly Reichardt – First Cow
Aaron Sorkin – The Trial of the Chicago 7
Chloé Zhao – Nomadland | WINNER

Best Screenplay, Original
Mank – Jack Fincher
Promising Young Woman – Emerald Fennell | WINNER
The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Aaron Sorkin

Best Screenplay, Adapted
First Cow – Kelly Reichardt and Jonathan Raymond
Nomadland – Chloé Zhao | WINNER
One Night in Miami – Kemp Powers

Best Documentary
All In: The Fight for Democracy | WINNER
Athlete A
Crip Camp
The Painter and the Thief
Time

Best Animated Film
Over the Moon
Soul | WINNER
Wolfwalkers

Best Actress
Viola Davis – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Vanessa Kirby – Pieces of a Woman
Frances McDormand – Nomadland | WINNER
Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Maria Bakalova – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Ellen Burstyn – Pieces of a Woman
Amanda Seyfried – Mank
Yuh-Jung Youn – Minari | WINNER

Best Actor
Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal
Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom | WINNER
Delroy Lindo – Da 5 Bloods

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Sacha Baron Cohen – The Trial of the Chicago 7
Bill Murray – On the Rocks
Leslie Odom Jr – One Night in Miami | WINNER

Best Ensemble Cast (award to casting director)
Da 5 Bloods – Kim Coleman
One Night in Miami – Kimberly Hardin | WINNER (tie)
The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Francine Maisler | WINNER (tie)

Best Cinematography
Mank – Erik Messerschmidt
Nomadland – Joshua James Richards | WINNER
One Night in Miami – Tami Reiker

Best Editing
One Night in Miami – Tariq Anwar
Nomadland – Chloé Zhao | WINNER
The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Alan Baumgarten

Best Non-English-Language Film
Another Round | WINNER
Beanpole
The Mole Agent
The Painted Bird

EDA FEMALE FOCUS AWARDS

These awards honor women only, excluding women who’ve won the category in the Best Of Awards.

Best Woman Director
Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman | WINNER
Eliza Hittman – Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Regina King – One Night in Miami
Channing Godfrey Peoples – Miss Juneteenth
Kelly Reichardt – First Cow
Chloé Zhao – Nomadland

Best Woman Screenwriter
Radha Blank – The Forty-Year-Old Version | WINNER
Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman
Eliza Hittman – Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Chloé Zhao – Nomadland

Best Animated Female
“22” (Tina Fey) – Soul | WINNER
“Mebh Óg MacTíre” (Eva Whittaker) – Wolfwalkers
“Robyn Goodfellowe” (Honor Kneafsey) – Wolfwalkers

Best Woman’s Breakthrough Performance
Radha Blank – The Forty-Year-Old Version
Sidney Flanigan – Never Rarely Sometimes Always | WINNER
Helena Zengel – News of the World

Outstanding Achievement by a Woman in the Film Industry
• all female heads of film festivals who successfully transitioned from live to online events to sustain festival culture through the pandemic
• all indie female writers and directors who normalized abortion as a vital element in the cultural conversation in films such as Saint Frances, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Sister of the Groom, Once Upon a River, The Glorias, and others | WINNER
• Emerald Fennell for creating a film (Promising Young Woman) that forces empathy to put an end to the toxic sexist rape culture pervasive through modern history
• Sophia Loren for a brilliant comeback at age 86 in The Life Ahead, the latest in her record-setting career. Loren won a Best Actress Oscar in 1962 for Two Women and was the first actor to win for a foreign language movie. She was also nominated in 1965 for Marriage Italian Style. If she’s nominated in 2021, it will be a 56-year span between her two most recent nominations — the current record is held by Henry Fonda, who had a 41-year gap between nominations.

EDA SPECIAL MENTION AWARDS

Grand Dame Award for defying ageism
Ellen Burstyn – Pieces of a Woman
Tsai Chin – Lucky Grandma
Sophia Loren – The Life Ahead | WINNER
Frances McDormand – Nomadland

Most Egregious Lovers’ Age Difference Award
Elizabeth Debicki and Claes Bang (23 years) – The Burnt Orange Heresy
Riley Keough and Jason Clarke (20 years) – The Devil All the Time
Amanda Seyfried and Charles Dance (39 years), and Seyfried and Gary Oldman (27 years) – Mank
Elizabeth Debicki and Kenneth Branagh (30 years) – Tenet | WINNER

She Deserves A New Agent Award
Rose Byrne – Like a Boss
Tiffany Haddish – Like a Boss
Katie Holmes – The Secret: Dare to Dream
Uma Thurman – The War with Grandpa | WINNER

Most Daring Performance Award
Maria Bakalova – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm | WINNER
Haley Bennett – Swallow
Vanessa Kirby – Pieces of a Woman
Elisabeth Moss – The Invisible Man
Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman

Time Waster Remake or Sequel Award
The Croods: A New Age
Dolittle | WINNER
Rebecca

AWFJ Hall of Shame Award
• Shia LeBoeuf for his ongoing abusive behavior
• Christopher Nolan for insisting that Tenet be screened exclusively in theaters during a pandemic | WINNER (tie)
• Dallas Sonnier and Adam Donaghey at Cinestate for sexual harassment, abuse, and coverup | WINNER (tie)