Awards/WFCC

Each awards season people come together to give tiny statues to other people for doing things other people seem to like. Here, here is a tiny golden man for all of your hard work. Your skill needs my approval. And a thing for your shelf. Regardless...I tend to look at awards season as more of an annual summation of the innovation and stories, the cultural trends manifest in the most accessible artform we have: what of our lives is cinema reflecting back to us?

This is my first awards season as a member of the Women Film Critics Circle and after going through the nomination process I can truly say I am overjoyed to be a part of this organization whose goal is to promote cinematic discourse from a standpoint that is often not at the forefront of awards season (ahem, SAG, ahem-white-male-director-fest). Looking at the year in films through this specific lens really put things into perspective for me. Even though women are under-represented in the industry the amount of unheard stories that have surfaced in 2014 are amazing! The depressive/discontent mothers with beautifully rendered psychological depth (The Babadook, Two Days One Night, Force Majeure), the abortion romantic-comedy (with fart jokes!) that reminds that the issue is one of people not politics (Obvious Child), films that follow the unconventional-on-film paths of contemporary women (Boyhood, Happy Christmas, Skeleton Twins, Wetlands-actually, I kinda hope Wetlands isn't anyone's path...?), the unheard given voice (Private Violence, Finding Vivian Maier, Big Eyes). This year has been a huge step forward for the narratives of women! Now...go be judged for your dress on the red carpet! Small steps for womankind....