2022 Alliance of Women Film Journalists nominations: ‘Everything Everywhere,’ ‘The Woman King’ lead

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ) nominations for the best in film for 2022 are out and Everything Everywhere All At Once and The Woman King are tied at the top with 12 nominations each, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress.

The Banshees of Inisherin and Women Talking were next with nine and rounding out the Best Film nominees are The Fabelmans and TÁR, with four and eight nods apiece. Best Director nominees were Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert for Everything Everywhere All at Once, Martin McDonagh for The Banshees of Inisherin for Sarah Polley for Women Talking, Gina Prince-Bythewood for The Woman King, Steven Spielberg for The Fabelmans and Charlotte Wells for Aftersun.

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists’ EDA Awards, unique to the AWFJ, specifically recognizes the work done by and about women–both in front and behind the camera. The EDAs are named in honor of AWFJ founder Jennifer 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. They include categories such as the She Deserves A New Agent Award, which the group insists isn’t a put-down of women, the Most Egregious Lovers’ Age Difference Award (between male and female romantic co-stars) and a Hall of Shame Award that highlights some of the lowlights of the calendar year.

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists, Inc. (AWFJ), was founded in 2006 by Jennifer Merin, Maitland McDonagh, Joanna Langfield and Jenny Halper. We were incorporated as a not-for-profit charitable organization in New York State in October, 2006.

Here is the full list of nominations.

Best Film

The Banshees of Inisherin
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fabelmans
TÁR
The Woman King
Women Talking

Best Director

Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin
Sarah Polley, Women Talking
Gina Prince-Bythewood, The Woman King
Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans
Charlotte Wells, Aftersun

Best Actor

Austin Butler, Elvis
Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin
Brendan Fraser, The Whale
Paul Mescal, Aftersun
Bill Nighy, Living
Jeremy Pope, The Inspection

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett, TÁR
Viola Davis, The Woman King
Danielle Deadwyler, Till
Vicki Krieps, Corsage
Emma Thompson, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best Supporting Actor

Brendon Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin
Brian Tyree Henry, Causeway
Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin
Eddie Redmayne, The Good Nurse
Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Ben Whishaw, Women Talking

Best Supporting Actress

Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Jessie Buckley, Women Talking
Hong Chau, The Whale
Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin
Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Janelle Monáe, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Best Original Screenplay

Charlotte Wells, Aftersun
Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin
Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner, The Fabelmans
Todd Field, TÁR
Dana Stevens & Maria Bello, The Woman King

Best Adapted Screenplay

Edward Berger, Lesley Patterson, & Ian Stokell, All Quiet on the Western Front
Rian Johnson, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Rebecca Lenkiewicz, She Said
Samuel D. Hunter, The Whale
Sarah Polley, Women Talking
Alice Birch, Emma Donoghue, & Sebastian Lelio, The Wonder

Best Animated Film

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (Guiilermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson)
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (Dean Fleischer-Camp)
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado)
The Sea Beast (Chris Williams)
Turning Red (Domee Shi)
Wendell & Wild (Henry Selick)

Best Documentary

All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen)
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Laura Poitras)
Descendant (Margaret Brown)
Fire of Love (Sara Dosa)
Goodnight Oppy (Ryan White)
The Janes (Tia Lessen and Emma Pildes)

Best Non-English-Language Film

All Quiet on the Western Front
Bardo
Decision to Leave
Happening
RRR
Saint Omer

Best Ensemble Cast (Casting Director)

The Banshees of Inisherin (Louise Kiely)
Everything Everywhere All at Once (Sarah Finn)
Triangle of Sadness (Pauline Hansson)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Sarah Finn)
The Woman King (Aisha Coley)
Women Talking (John Buchan & Jason Knight)

Best Cinematography

Ben Davis, The Banshees of Inisherin
Roger Deakins, Empire of Light
Larkin Seiple, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Janusz Kamiński, The Fabelmans
Claudio Miranda, Top Gun: Maverick
Polly Morgan, The Woman King

Best Editing

Jonathan Redmond & Matt Villa, Elvis
Paul Rogers, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Monika Willis, TÁR
Eddie Hamilton, Top Gun: Maverick
Terilyn A. Shropshire, The Woman King
Christopher Donaldson & Rosalyn Kallop, Women Talking

EDA FEMALE FOCUS AWARDS
These awards honor WOMEN only.

Best Woman Director

Chinoye Chukwu, Till
Marie Kreutzer, Corsage
Gina Prince-Bythewood, The Woman King
Sarah Polley, Women Talking
Maria Schrader, She Said
Charlotte Wells, Aftersun

Best Woman Screenwriter

Alice Birch, The Wonder & Mothering Sunday
Rebecca Lenkiewicz, She Said
Sarah Polley, Women Talking
Domee Shi, Turning Red
Dana Stevens and Maria Bello, The Woman King
Charlotte Wells, Aftersun

Best Animated Female

Connie – Isabella Rossellni (Marcel the Shell with Shoes On)
Izzy – Keke Palmer (Lightyear)
Kat – Lyric Ross (Wendell & Wild)
Kitty Softpaws – Salma Hayek (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish)
Mei – Rosalyn Chiang (Turning Red)
Ming – Sandra Oh (Turning Red)

Best Woman’s Breakthrough Performance

Frankie Corio, Aftersun
Danielle Deadwyler, Till
Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Thuso Mbedu, The Woman King
Amber Midthunder, Prey
Sadie Sink, The Whale

Outstanding Achievement by a Woman in the Film Industry

* Viola Davis for getting The Woman King made as her lifetime passion project and creating opportunities for other women creatives.
* Nina Menkes and Maria Giese for making Brainwashed, analyzing and illustrating the misogynistic representation of women in Hollywood movies.
* Domee Shi for being the first woman to direct a film for Pixar and for becoming Pixar’s VP of Creative
* Jacqueline Stewart for ongoing advocacy of the underrepresented and becoming president of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
* Michelle Yeoh – lifetime achievement award.

EDA SPECIAL MENTION AWARDS

Grand Dame Award for defying ageism.

Jamie Lee Curtis
Viola Davis
Emma Thompson
Michelle Yeoh

Most Egregious Lovers’ Age Difference Award

Confess Fletch – Jon Hamm (born 1971) and Lorenza Izzo (born 1989)
Crimes of the Future – Viggo Mortensen (born 1958) and Lea Sedoux (born 1985)
Deep Water – Ben Affleck (born 1972) and Ana de Armas (born 1988)
Eiffel – Romain Duris (born 1974) and Emma Mackey (born 1996)

She Deserves A New Agent Award (AWFK note: This is not a put down. On the contrary, it suggests that the actor is better than the role she’s been given.)

Ana de Armas, Blonde
Bryce Dallas Howard, Jurassic World Dominion
Margot Robbie, Babylon
Rebel Wilson, Senior Year

Most Daring Performance

Cate Blanchett, TÁR
Viola Davis, The Woman King
Danielle Deadwyler, Till
Emma Thompson, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Time Waster Remake or Sequel Award

Firestarter
Halloween Ends
Jurassic World Dominion
Pinocchio (Disney’s)

AWFJ Hall of Shame Award (Women and men are eligible)

* Alec Baldwin and the crew of Rust for continuing to deny responsibility for the on set shooting that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. The situation is still messy. A wrongful death lawsuit was settled, but the criminal investigation continues. In November, Baldwin sued crew members for giving him the loaded prop gun that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. News reports say Baldwin also texted Hutchins’s husband, Matthew, saying that the gun was never meant to be fired at a particular camera angle.
* Blonde and Andrew Dominik
* Will Smith for his behavior at the Oscars and in the aftermath.
* Harvey Weinstein for everything and forever.