Danielle Brooks, Ariana DeBose & More Receive 2023 AWFJ EDA Award Nominations

Since 2006, the Alliance of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ) has presented annual EDA Awards, 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.  

Three of the eight Best Film Contenders are directed by women, including Justine Triet's ANATOMY OF A FALL and Greta Gerwig's BARBIE, each with nominations in ten categories, along with s a special mention for Gerwig. 

Danielle Brooks was nominated for Best Actress, Supporting for her performance in The Color Purple. Ariana DeBose received a nomination for EDA Female Focus: Best Animated Female for her voice performance in Wish.

Celine Song's lauded drama PAST LIVES garnered nine nominations. In the Female Focus sections, Lily Gladstone and Greta Lee are vying for Best Breakthrough Performance and Annette Benning and Jodie Foster compete for the title of Grand Dame for their marathon performances in NYAD. And, nominated for a second year in a row, will the talented Ana de Armas be deemed most deserving of a new agent for GHOST, her very disappointing 2023 vehicle?

"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, including Greta Gerwig, Justine Triet and Celine Song who are all nominated in both the Best Director category and Best Screenplay categories” said Jennifer Merin, President of the 95-member AWFJ.

"We hope to see similar recognition of women filmmakers at this year's Oscars and various guild awards. as well as with other critic's awards groups. 2023 has been a banner year for women working in film, and we hope to see the trend continue in 2024.” 

In preparation for the awards season, AWFJ tracks femme-helmed and femme-centric films released throughout the year. The 2023 list of EDA Award-eligible femme-helmed and/or femme-centric films includes almost 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. 

The EDAs are named in honor of AWFJ founder Merin's mother, Eda Reiss Merin, a stage, film and television actress whose career spanned more than 60 years. A dedicated foot soldier in the industry, Eda was one of the founders of AFTRA and a long-standing Member of AMPAS. EDA is also an acronym for Excellent Dynamic Activism, qualities shared by Eda Reiss Merin, AWFJ members and those honored with EDA Awards.