'Sinners' Dominates the 2025 AWFJ EDA Awards as Women Critics Affirm a Standout Film Year
The Alliance of Women Film Journalists announced its 2025 EDA Award winners this week, and the results were decisive. Sinners, directed by Ryan Coogler, emerged as the most honored film of the year, winning Best Film and securing a total of six additional awards across top categories.
The film claimed Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Coogler, Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan, Best Supporting Actress for Wunmi Mosaku, Best Cinematography for Autumn Durald Arkapaw, and Best Ensemble Cast and Casting Director, awarded to casting director Francine Maisler.
The sweep placed Sinners firmly at the center of this year’s awards conversation, signaling strong consensus among women critics around both its artistic ambition and execution.
Other major honors were more evenly distributed. Hamnet earned Best Actress for Jessie Buckley and Best Adapted Screenplay for Maggie O’Farrell and Chloé Zhao. Best International Feature went to Sentimental Value, directed by Joachim Trier, which also earned Best Supporting Actor for Stellan Skarsgård.
In documentary, the top prize went to The Perfect Neighbor, directed by Geeta Gandbhir. Best Animated Feature was awarded to KPop Demon Hunters, with Arden Cho also winning Female Focus honors for Best Voiced Performance.
The Alliance of Women Film Journalists, founded in 2006, presents the EDA Awards annually to reflect the collective critical voice of professional women film critics—still a minority in the broader awards ecosystem. In addition to gender-neutral categories, the group presents Female Focus Awards to recognize women’s work in an industry where parity remains elusive.
“Women are still struggling for gender parity in all aspects of the film industry, which is undergoing seismic shifts in production and distribution,” said Jennifer Merin, the organization’s president, in a statement. While she noted a rise in female-driven filmmaking—more than 500 femme-helmed or femme-centric films were tracked in 2025—she emphasized that most were low-budget independent projects rarely recognized by major awards bodies.
The Female Focus Awards this year underscored that tension between progress and limitation. Chloé Zhao won Best Female Director for Hamnet. Eva Victor was named Best Female Writer for Sorry, Baby. Chase Infiniti won both Best Breakthrough Performance and Best Stunts Performance for One Battle After Another.
Taken together, the 2025 EDA Awards offered a clear portrait of a film year defined by excellence at the top and inequity beneath it—one in which Sinners dominated the conversation, even as the Alliance of Women Film Journalists continued its broader mission: pressing the industry to widen the circle of who gets seen, funded, and honored.
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