Alliance of Women Film Journalists announces best films of 2023

For the past 17 years, 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. Our Quad Cities’ Linda Cook is a voting member of the organization.

“2023 was an exceptional year with so many women playing major creative roles in high profile projects,” says AWFJ President Jennifer Merin. “AWFJ always focuses on and supports women’s contributions in all aspects of film production, and we are delighted that this year’s AWFJ EDA Awards honor women creatives in six of our ten non-gendered BEST OF categories, as well as in all of our Female Focus categories. We hope this female forward trend will continue in 2024.”

In 2023, “The Zone of Interest” picked up awards for both Best Film and Best International Film, “Barbie” captured four awards, including Best Director for Greta Gerwig, who also shared Best Original Screenplay Award with Noah Baumbach, Best Supporting Actor for Ryan Gosling and Best Ensemble Cast/Casting Director (tie). Among other awards, “Killers of the Flower Moon” won awards for Best Actress (Lily Gladstone), Best Cinematography (Rodrigo Prieto), Best Editor (Thelma Schoonmaker) and Best Women’s Breakthrough Performance (Lily Gladstone).

2023 EDA AWARDS WINNERS

BEST FILM: “The Zone of Interest”

BEST DIRECTOR: Great Gerwig, “Barbie”

BEST SCREENPLAY, ORIGINAL: “Barbie” – Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach

BEST SCREENPLAY, ADAPTED: “American Fiction,” Cord Jefferson

BEST DOCUMENTARY (TIE): “American Symphony” and “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood”

BEST ANIMATED FILM: “The Boy and the Heron – Hayao Miyazaki

BEST ACTRESS: Lily Gladstone – “Killers of the Flower Moon”

BEST ACTRESS, SUPPORTING: Da’Vine Joy Randolph – “The Holdovers”

BEST ACTOR: Jeffrey Wright – “American Fiction”

BEST ACTOR, SUPPORTING: Ryan Gosling – “Barbie”

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST AND CASTING DIRECTOR (TIE): “American Fiction” – Jennifer Euston; “Barbie” – Lucy Brava and Allison Jones

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: “Killers of the Flower Moon” – Rodrigo Prieto

BEST EDITING: “Killers of the Flower Moon” – Thelma Schoonmaker

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM: “The Zone of Interest” – UK and Poland

EDA FEMALE FOCUS AWARDS

BEST WOMAN DIRECTOR: Justine Triet – “Anatomy of a Fall”

EDA FEMALE FOCUS: BEST FEMALE SCREENWRITER: Celine Song – “Past Lives”

EDA FEMALE FOCUS: BEST ANIMATED FEMALE: Hailee Steinfeld – “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” – Gwen Stacy

EDA FEMALE FOCUS: BEST WOMEN’S BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE: Lily Gladstone – “Killers of the Flower Moon”

EDA FEMALE FOCUS: OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT BY A WOMEN IN THE FILM INDUSTRY: Fran Drescher – for leading SAG-AFTRA through the actors’ strike and standing strong for an equitable contract.

EDA SPECIAL MENTION: GRAND DAME FOR DEFYING AGEISM: Annette Bening – “Nyad”

EDA SPECIAL MENTION: MOST EGREGIOUS LOVERS’ AGE DIFFERENCE: “Oppenheimer” – Cillian Murphy (47) and Florence Pugh (27)

EDA SPECIAL MENTION: SHE DESERVES A NEW AGENT (TIE) – NOTE: This is not a put down. On the contrary, it suggests that the actress is better than the role(s) she’s been given. Candace Bergen, Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton and Mary Steenburgen – “Book Club: The Next Chapter” and Toni Colette – “Mafia Mamma”

EDA SPECIAL MENTION: MOST DARING PERFORMANCE: Emma Stone – “Poor Things”

EDA SPECIAL MENTION: TIME WASTER REMAKE OR SEQUEL: “The Exorcist Believer”

HALL OF SHAME AWARD: Taking note of miscreant(s) and their unacceptable behavior and dirty deeds: The AMPTP and studio heads for their despicable behavior concerning the WGA and SAG-AFTRA negotiations and strikes.

ABOUT THE EDA AWARDS

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 Eda 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.

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. For more information, visit here.