Awards, Films, Women Directors

Women Film Critics Circle Nominations: “Hidden Figures,” “13th,” & More

“Ghostbusters”
“13th”

Ava DuVernay’s “13th,” Kelly Reichardt’s “Certain Women,” and “Hidden Figures” are among the films to be honored by The Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC) this year. The association of 80 women film critics and scholars has announced the 2016 nominations for the best films by and about women.

The nominees for Best Movie About Women include Reichardt’s ensemble drama “Certain Women” and “Hidden Figures,” co-written by Allison Schroeder. The former is a Montana-set story about the loosely connected lives of an attorney (Laura Dern), a married couple in the midst of building a home (Michelle Williams and James LeGros), and a rancher (Lily Gladstone) who forms a connection with a young lawyer teaching night school (Kristen Stewart), and the latter is an inspiring portrait of three brilliant African-American women (Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monáe) who played an invaluable role in NASA’s mission to launch astronaut John Glenn into orbit.

Both “Hidden Figures” and “Certain Women” are up for a number of awards. “Certain Women” is among the nominees for Best Movie by a Woman. Other films in this category include “Queen of Katwe,” Mira Nair’s Disney film about a chess prodigy, and “13th,” DuVernay’s documentary tracing the connection between slavery and mass-incarceration in the U.S.

The nominations for the Josephine Baker Award, given in recognition of films “for best expressing the woman of color experience in America,” include interracial romance “Loving” and the controversial Nina Simone biopic “Nina.”

Natalie Portman (“Jackie”), Ruth Negga (“Loving), Judy Davis (“The Dressmaker”), and Sasha Lane (“American Honey”) are among the acting nominees.

WFCC launched in 2004, becoming the first women critics organization in the U.S. As per the association’s site, WFCC believes that “women’s perspectives and voices in film criticism need to be recognized fully.” Research from Dr. Martha Lauzen and The Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film illustrates just how important it is to ensure that women’s voices are heard in film criticism. “In every type of publication, male reviewers dramatically outnumber female reviewers. For example, males comprised 80 percent and females 20 percent of individuals writing about film for trade publications,” a 2016 report revealed. “Men accounted for 71 percent and women 29 percent of those writing about film for large U.S. newspapers.”

The association also “prides itself on being the most culturally and racially diverse critics group in the country by far, and best reflecting the diversity of movie audiences.”

Check out all of WFCC’s 2016 nominees below.

BEST FEMALE ACTION HERO NOMINEE:
The Women Of “Free State Of Jones”

“Certain Women”

BEST MOVIE ABOUT WOMEN
“Certain Women”
“Christine”
“Hidden Figures”
“20th Century Women”

BEST MOVIE BY A WOMAN
“Certain Women”
“Queen Of Katwe”
“The Dressmaker”
“13TH”

BEST WOMAN STORYTELLER [Screenwriting Award]
“Certain Women,” Kelly Reichardt
“Equity,” Amy Fox
“Maggie’s Plan,” Rebecca Miller
“13TH,” Ava Duvernay

“Hidden Figures”

BEST ACTRESS
Rebecca Hall, “Christine”
Taraji P. Henson, “Hidden Figures”
Ruth Negga, “Loving”
Natalie Portman, “Jackie”

BEST ACTOR
Casey Affleck, “Manchester By The Sea”
Joel Edgerton, “Loving”
Matthew McConaughey, “Free State Of Jones”
Christopher Plummer, “Remember”

“American Honey”

BEST YOUNG ACTRESS
Sasha Lane, “American Honey”
Roylaty Hightower, “The Fits”
Madina Nalwanga, “Queen Of Katwe”
Hailee Steinfeld, “The Edge Of Seventeen”

BEST COMEDIC ACTRESS
Judy Davis, “The Dressmaker”
Sally Field, “Hello My Name is Doris”
Greta Gerwig, “Maggie’s Plan”
Kate McKinnon, “Ghostbusters”

“Toni Erdmann”

BEST FOREIGN FILM BY OR ABOUT WOMEN
“Julieta”
“The Handmaiden”
“Things To Come”
“Toni Erdmann”

BEST DOCUMENTARY BY OR ABOUT WOMEN
“Audrie & Daisy”
“Miss Sharon Jones”
“The Eagle Huntress”
“13TH”

BEST FEMALE IMAGES IN A MOVIE
“Certain Women”
“Hidden Figures”
“Loving”
“Queen Of Katwe”

WORST FEMALE IMAGES IN A MOVIE
“Elle”
“Neighbors 2”
“Nocturnal Animals” [The obese naked women dancing]
“Zoolander 2”

BEST MALE IMAGES IN A MOVIE
“Free State Of Jones”
“Loving”
“Paterson”
“Snowden”

WORST MALE IMAGES IN A MOVIE
“Dirty Grandpa”
“Frank & Lola”
“Weiner”
“Zoolander 2”

“20th Century Women”

WOMEN’S WORK/BEST ENSEMBLE
“Ghostbusters”
“Hidden Figures”
“The Dressmaker”
“20th Century Women”

SPECIAL MENTION AWARDS

COURAGE IN FILMMAKING
Ava Duvernay, “13TH”
Janet Grillo, “Jack Of The Red Hearts”
Meera Menon, “Equity”
Kelly Reichardt, “Certain Women”

COURAGE IN ACTING [Taking on unconventional roles that radically redefine the images of women on screen]
Annette Bening, “20th Century Women”
Lily Gladstone, “Certain Women”
Rebecca Hall, “Christine”
Zoe Saldana, “Nina”

ADRIENNE SHELLY AWARD: For a film that most passionately opposes violence against women
American Honey”
“Audrie & Daisy”
“Colonia”
“The Uncondemned”

*JOSEPHINE BAKER AWARD: For best expressing the woman of color experience in America
“Hidden Figures”
“Loving”
“Moonlight”
“Nina”

*KAREN MORLEY AWARD: For best exemplifying a woman’s place in history or society, and a courageous search for identity
“Christine”
“Hidden Figures”
“Loving”
“Things To Come”

*THE INVISIBLE WOMAN AWARD: [Performance by a woman whose exceptional impact on the film dramatically, socially or historically, has been ignored]
Lily Gladstone, “Certain Women”
Rebecca Hall, “Christine”
The women of “Hidden Figures”
Theresa Saldana, “Nina”

BEST SCREEN COUPLE
“Allied”
“Loving”
“Paterson”
“Snowden”

BEST FEMALE ACTION HERO
Emma Watson, “Colonia”
The women of “Free State Of Jones”
The women of “Ghostbusters”
Wonder Woman: Gal Gadot in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”

MOMMIE DEAREST WORST SCREEN MOM OF THE YEAR AWARD
Mila Kunis, “Bad Moms”
Laura Linney, “Nocturnal Animals”
Emma Thompson, “Barney Thomson”
Renée Zellweger, “The Whole Truth”

BEST LINE IN A MOVIE:
“I believe the characters we read on the page become more real than the men who stand beside us.” — “Jackie”

ACTING AND ACTIVISM AWARD:

Shailene Woodley’s mugshot

Gena Davis: She has put in many decades of political service to feminist causes and has never held back even when speaking out could potentially harm her career. Her screen roles reinforce her beliefs. The Geena Davis Institute does research and advocacy.

Jane Fonda: For a lifetime of activism both on screen and off.

Emma Watson: UN Goodwill Ambassador, tells the UN General Assembly that universities need to be a safe space against campus sexual and racial assault, for women and people of color.

Shailene Woodley: For standing with the Water Protectors at Standing Rock and jailed for her activism there.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Julia Andrews
Annette Bening
Martha Coolidge
Viola Davis

BEST EQUALITY OF THE SEXES
“Allied”
“Hidden Figures”
“Loving”
“Paterson”

BEST ANIMATED FEMALE
“Finding Dory”
“Moana”
“The BFG”
“Your Name”

“Queen of Katwe”

BEST FAMILY FILM
“Hidden Figures”
“Kubo and the Two Strings”
“Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children”
“Queen Of Katwe”

WFCC Hall Of Shame
Women Dating Their Rapists In Movies:
“Elle”
“Frank & Lola”
“Sunset Song”


In Her Voice Podcast Episodes from This Week- May 12

Please check out the latest podcast episodes of In Her Voice Weekly News Brief on May 10- includes latest Writers Strike info Interview with Laurel Parmet- writer/director of The Starling Girl which...

Sophie Barthes’ Emilia Clarke-Starrer “The Pod Generation” Lands at Roadside Attractions, Vertical

Emilia Clarke says goodbye to the distant past in King’s Landing and hello to the near future in “The Pod Generation,” a sci-fi story that sees the Emmy-nominated “Game of...

“Eileen” Adaptation Lands at Neon, Anne Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie Star

Thomasin McKenzie finds herself on another dangerous journey inspired by a glamorous, mysterious woman in “Eileen,” her latest big screen outing following “One Night in Soho.”...

Posts Search

Publishing Dates
Start date
- select start date -
End date
- select end date -
Category
News
Films
Interviews
Features
Trailers
Festivals
Television
RESET