The Alliance of Women Film Journalists announced the nominees for the 2020 EDA Awards, with Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland this year’s most nominated film with nine EDA nominations including Best Film, Best Director, Best Woman Director, Best Actress, Grand Dame Award, and Most Daring Performance Award for Frances McDormand.

Regina King’s One Night in Miami is honored with eight nominations including Best Film, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, Best Ensemble, Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Woman Director.

Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman has six nominations, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress for Carey Mulligan, Best Woman Director, and Best Woman Screenwriter.

Additionally, Fennell is nominated for this year’s Outstanding Achievement Award, along with Sophia Loren for her brilliant comeback and all of the Female Film Festival Directors who successfully transitioned from live to online events.

Representing women film critics’ perspectives on the world’s constantly evolving cinema scene, the Alliance of Women Film Journalists’ EDA Awards honor the year’s best films regardless of gender.

The winners of AWFJ’s 2020 EDA Awards will be announced on January 4, 2021.

2020 EDA Awards Nominees

AWFJ BEST OF AWARDS

These awards are presented to women and/or men without gender consideration.

Best Film

• MINARI
• NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS
• NOMADLAND
• ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI
• PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
• THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7

Best Director

• Emerald Fennell – PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
• Regina King – ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI
• Kelly Reichardt – FIRST COW
• Aaron Sorkin – TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7
• Chloe Zhao – NOMADLAND

Best Screenplay, Original

• MANK – Jack Fincher
• PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN – Emerald Fennell
• THE TRIAL OF THE CHACAGO 7 – Aaron Sorkin

Best Screenplay, Adapted

• FIRST COW – Kelly Reichardt and Jon Raymond
• NOMADLAND – Chloe Zhao
• ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI – Kemp Powers

Best Documentary

• ALL IN: THE FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY
• ATHLETE A
• CRIP CAMP
• THE PAINTER AND THE THIEF
• TIME

Best Animated Film

• OVER THE MOON
• SOUL
• WOLFWALKERS

Best Actress

• Viola Davis – MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM
• Vanessa Kirby – PIECES OF A WOMAN
• Frances McDormand – NOMADLAND
• Carey Mulligan – PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

• Maria Bakalova – BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM
• Ellen Burstyn – PIECES OF A WOMAN
• Amanda Seyfried – MANK
• Yuh-Jung Youn – MINARI

Best Actor

• Riz Ahmed – SOUND OF METAL
• Chadwick Boseman – MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM
• Delroy Lindo – DA 5 BLOODS

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

• Sacha Baron Cohen – THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7
• Bill Murray – ON THE ROCKS
• Leslie Odom Jr – ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI

Best Ensemble Cast – Casting Director

• DA 5 BLOODS – Kim Coleman
• ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI – Kimberly Hardin
• THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 – Francine Maisler

Best Cinematography

• MANK – Erik Messerschmidt
• NOMADLAND – Joshua James Richards
• ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI – Tami Reiker

Best Editing

• ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI – Tariq Anwar
• NOMADLAND – Chloe Zhao
• THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 – Alan Baumgarten

Best Non-English-Language Film

• ANOTHER ROUND – Denmark
• BEANPOLE – Russia
• THE MOLE AGENT – Chile
• THE PAINTED BIRD – Czech Republic

EDA FEMALE FOCUS AWARDS

These awards honor WOMEN only.

Best Woman Director

• Emerald Fennell – PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
• Eliza Hittman – NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS
• Regina King – ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI
• Channing Godfrey Peoples – MISS JUNETEENTH
• Kelly Reichardt – FIRST COW
• Chloe Zhao – NOMADLAND

Best Woman Screenwriter

• Radha Blank – THE FORTY-YEAR-OLD VERSION
• Emerald Fennell – PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
• Eliza Hittman – NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS
• Chloe Zhao – NOMADLAND

Best Animated Female

• 22 in SOUL, Tina Fey
• Mebh Óg MacTíre in WOLFWALKERS, Eva Whittaker
• Robyn Goodfellowe in WOLFWALKERS, Honor Kneafsey

Best Woman’s Breakthrough Performance

• Radha Blank – THE FORTY-YEAR-OLD VERSION
• Sidney Flanigan – NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS
• Helena Zengel – NEWS OF THE WORLD

Outstanding Achievement by a Woman in the Film Industry

• All female heads of film festivals who successfully transitioned from live to online events to sustain festival culture through the pandemic.
• All indie female writers and directors who normalized abortion as a vital element in the cultural conversation in films such as SAINT FRANCES, NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS, SISTER OF THE GROOM, ONCE UPON A RIVER, THE GLORIAS and others.
• Emerald Fennell for creating a film that forces empathy to put an end to the toxic sexist rape culture pervasive through modern history.
• Sophia Loren for a brilliant comeback at age 86 in THE LIFE AHEAD, the latest in her record-setting career. Loren won a Best Actress Oscar in 1962 for TWO WOMEN and was the first actor to win for a foreign language movie. She was also nominated in 1965 for MARRIAGE ITALIAN STYLE. If she’s nominated in 2021, it will be a 56-year span between her two most recent nominations – the current record is held by Henry Fonda, who had a 41-year gap between nominations.

EDA SPECIAL MENTION AWARDS

Grand Dame Award for defying agism.

• Ellen Burstyn – PIECES OF A WOMAN
• Tsai Chin – LUCKY GRANDMA
• Sophia Loren – THE LIFE AHEAD
• Frances McDormand – NOMADLAND

Most Egregious Lovers’ Age Difference Award

• THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY – Elizabeth Debicki and Claes Bang (23 years)
• DEVIL ALL THE TIME – Riley Keough and Jason Clarke (20 years)
• MANK – Amanda Seyfried and Charles Dance (39 years), Gary Oldman (27 years)
• TENET – Elizabeth Debicki and Kenneth Branagh (30 years)

She Deserves A New Agent Award

• Rose Byrne – LIKE A BOSS
• Tiffany Haddish – LIKE A BOSS
• Katie Holmes – DARE TO DREAM
• Uma Thurman – WAR WITH GRANDPA

Most Daring Performance Award

• Maria Bakalova – BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM
• Haley Bennett – SWALLOW
• Vanessa Kirby – PIECES OF A WOMAN
• Elisabeth Moss – INVISIBLE MAN
• Carey Mulligan – PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN

Time Waster Remake or Sequel Award

• THE CROODS: A NEW AGE
• DOOLITTLE
• REBECCA

AWFJ Hall of Shame Award

• Shia LeBoeuf for his ongoing abusive behavior
• Christopher Nolan for insisting that TENET be screened exclusively in theaters during a pandemic.
• Dallas Sonnier and Adam Donaghey at Cinestate for sexual harassment and abuse, and cover up.