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    “Roma” tops Women Film Journalists’ competition with 5 EDA Awards

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments1917 Views
    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.

    Tags:Alliance of Women Film JournalistsAWFJ EDA AwardsROMAThe Favourite



    Ex-OpenAI engineer who raised legal concerns about the technology he helped build has died

    Saturday, December 21, 2024
    Suchir Balaji poses for a photo in Hawaii in 2018. Balaji was a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who died in November 2024. (Balaji Ramamurthy via AP)

    Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26.

    Balaji worked at OpenAI for nearly four years before quitting in August. He was well-regarded by colleagues at the San Francisco company, where a co-founder this week called him one of OpenAI's strongest contributors who was essential to developing some of its products.

    "We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news and our hearts go out to Suchir's loved ones during this difficult time," said a statement from OpenAI.

    Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on Nov. 26 in what police said "appeared to be a suicide. No evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation." The city's chief medical examiner's office confirmed the manner of death to be suicide.

    His parents Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy said they are still seeking answers, describing their son as a "happy, smart and brave young man" who loved to hike and recently returned from a trip with friends.

    Balaji grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and first arrived at the fledgling AI research lab for a 2018 summer internship while studying computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He returned a few years later to work at OpenAI, where one of his first projects, called WebGPT, helped pave the way for ChatGPT.

    "Suchir's contributions to this project were essential, and it wouldn't have succeeded without him," said OpenAI co-founder John Schulman in a social media post memorializing Balaji. Schulman, who recruited Balaji to his team, said what... Read More

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