Alliance of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ) nominations: ‘The Power of the Dog,’ ‘Belfast,’ ‘Passing’ lead the field

Erik Anderson December 10, 2021

Jane Campion’s sweeping, slow-burn epic The Power of the Dog dominated the Alliance of Women Journalists nominations today with 10 nods, including Best Film, Best Actor, Supporting Actress and two Supporting Actor mentions. Campion herself earned multiple nods for her direction and screenplay adaptation.

Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast was next with 8 nominations, followed by Rebecca Hall’s Passing with six and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter with 5. All were nominated for Best Film alongside Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza.

“2021 has been a surprisingly great year for films, especially for female-directed films, as is indicated by AWFJ’s EDA Award nominees,” said AWFJ and EDA Awards founder Jennifer Merin. “Our list of eligible films exceeds 700, and we’re thrilled to see so many of them directed by women and femme-centric. We hope the trend will continue and we will continue to recognize and honor the best with our annual EDA Awards and those we present at festivals, and with our Movie of the Week feature on AWFJ.org.”

Along with the traditional nominees, the AWFJ also have categories specifically dedicated to women in front of and behind the camera where The Power of the Dog, Passing and The Lost Daughter raked in more nominations as well as the group’s yearly condemnation of things like age gaps between actors and actresses (which, ironically, includes Best Film nominee Licorice Pizza) and an actresses who ‘Deserves A New Agent Award and their Hall of Shame Award, which this year sees mentions for Gina Carano, Nicki Minaj and Letitia Wright using celeb status for anti-vax propaganda, condemning the producers of Rust over the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and to Warner Bros for greenlighting Lethal Weapon 5 under the direction of Mel Gibson.

Nominations were originally reported by Variety. Here is the full list of nominations. Winners will be announced in early January 2022.

Best Film

Belfast
Licorice Pizza
The Lost Daughter
Passing
The Power Of The Dog

Best Director

Paul Thomas Anderson – Licorice Pizza
Kenneth Branagh –Belfast
Jane Campion – The Power Of The Dog
Maggie Gyllenhaal- The Lost Daughter
Rebecca Hall – Passing

Best Actress

Jessica Chastain – The Eyes Of Tammy Faye
Olivia Colman – The Lost Daughter
Kristen Stewart – Spencer
Lady Gaga – House Of Gucci
Tessa Thompson – Passing

Best Actress In A Supporting Role

Jessie Buckley – The Lost Daughter
Ann Dowd – Mass
Kirsten Dunst – The Power Of The Dog
Aunjanue Ellis – King Richard
Ruth Negga – Passing

Best Actor

Benedict Cumberbatch – The Power Of The Dog
Peter Dinklage – Cyrano
Andrew Garfield – tick, tick…BOOM!
Will Smith – King Richard
Denzel Washington – The Tragedy Of Macbeth

Best Actor In A Supporting Role

Jamie Dornan – Belfast
Troy Kostur – CODA
Ciarán Hinds – Belfast
Jesse Plemons – The Power Of The Dog
Kodi Smit-McPhee – The Power Of The Dog

Best Screenplay, Original

Being The Ricardos – Aaron Sorkin
Belfast – Kenneth Branagh
Don’t Look Up – Adam McKay
Licorice Pizza – Paul Thomas Anderson
Mass – Fran Kranz

Best Screenplay, Adapted

CODA – Sian Heder
Dune – Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve, Eric Roth
The Lost Daughter – Maggie Gyllenhaal
Passing – Rebecca Hall
The Power Of The Dog – Jane Campion

Best Documentary

Ascension
Flee
Julia
Summer Of Soul
Val

Best Animated Film

Encanto
Flee
Luca
The Mitchells Vs The Machine
Raya And The Last Dragon

Best Ensemble Cast – Casting Director(s)

Belfast – Lucy Bevan, Emily Brockmann
The French Dispatch – Douglas Aibel, Antoinette Boulat
The Harder They Fall – Victoria Thomas
King Richard – Rich Delia, Avy Kaufman
The Power Of The Dog – Nikki Barrett, Tina Cleary, Carmen Cuba, Nina Gold

Best Cinematography

Belfast – Haris Zambarloukos
Dune – Greig Fraser
Passing – Eduard Grau
The Power Of The Dog – Ari Wegner
The Tragedy Of Macbeth – Bruno Delbonnel

Best Editing

Belfast – Una Ní Dhonghalle
Don’t Look Up – Hank Corwin
Dune – Joe Walker
The Power Of The Dog – Peter Sciberras
West Side Story – Sarah Broshar, Michael Kahn

Best Non-English-language Film

Drive My Car
Flee
A Hero
I’m Your Man
Titane

EDA Female Focus Awards

Best Woman Director

Jane Campion – The Power Of The Dog
Julia Ducournau – Titane”
Maggie Gyllenhall – The Lost Daughter
Rebecca Hall – Passing
Sian Heder – CODA

Best Woman Screenwriter

Jane Campion – The Power Of The Dog
Maggie Gyllenhaal – The Lost Daughter
Rebecca Hall – Passing
Sian Heder – CODA
Maria Schrader – I’m Your Man

Best Animated Female

Mirabel, Stephanie Beatriz – Encanto
Katie, Abbi Jacobsen –The Mitchells Vs The Machine
Raya, Kelly Marie Tran – “Raya And The Last Dragon
Giulia, Emma Berman – Luca
Sisu, Awkwafina – Raya And The Last Dragon

Best Woman’s Breakthrough Performance

Ariana DeBose -West Side Story
Alana Haim – Licorice Pizza
Emilia Jones – CODA
Renate Reinsve – The Worst Person In The World
Rachel Zegler – West Side Story

Outstanding Achievement By A Woman In The Film Industry

Victoria Alonzo For Her Achievements At Marvel Studios
Maya Cade For Establishing The Black Film Archive
Anna Serner For 20 Years Of Female-forward Work At The Swedish Film Institute
EDA Special Mention Awards

Grand Dame Award For Defying Ageism

Dame Judi Dench
Ms. Rita Moreno
Dame Diana Rigg

Most Egregious Lovers’ Age Difference Award

The Many Saints Of Newark – Ray Liotta and Michela Derossi (38 Years)
Red Rocket – Simon Rex and Suzanna Son (21 Years)
The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard – Salma Hayek and Samuel L. Jackson (21 Years)
Nightmare Alley – David Strathairn and Toni Collette (22 Years)
Licorice Pizza – Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman (10 Years)

She Deserves A New Agent Award

Amy Adams – The Woman In The Window and Dear Evan Hansen
Melissa McCarthy – The Starling
Chlöe Grace Moretz – Tom And Jerry

Most Daring Performance Award

Sandra Bullock – The Unforgivable
Olivia Colman – The Lost Daughter
Ruth Negga – Passing
Renate Reinsve – The Worst Person In The World
Agatha Rouselle – Titane

Time Waster Remake or Sequel Award

The Boss Baby: The Family Business
Cruella
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
Space Jam: A New Legacy
Tom And Jerry

AWFJ Hall Of Shame Award
Gina Carano, Nicki Minaj and Letitia Wright for using celeb status for anti-vax propaganda
Producers, crew and cast of Rust for not following proper safety protocol and causing the tragic death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins
Warner Bros for contributing to Mel Gibson’s resurgence by hiring him to direct Lethal Weapon 5

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.