Jack Wagner, Editor

Award season is here, and with it comes controversy. Much of this year’s controversy revolves around the most-nominated film of the year, “Emilia Pérez.”

“Emilia Pérez” is the story of a Mexican lawyer (Zoe Saldana) who is enlisted by a cartel leader (Karla Sofía Gascón) to help her disappear so that she can transition into a woman. The film was nominated for 13 Oscars, including Best International Feature Film, Best Achievement in Directing, Best Actress and Best Picture. There has been a lot of pushback against the movie, however.

Although set in Mexico and a Spanish-language film, it was primarily filmed in France and directed by French filmmaker Jacques Audiard. Its depiction of cartels and Mexican culture has been criticized for being “eurocentric.”

“Their way of making the film is to disregard so many in the (film) industry in Mexico already talking about this topic,” said Mexican screenwriter Héctor Guillén. 

Gaby Meza, host of popular Mexican film podcast “Hablando de Cine,” said the film was “designed for export,” and that “you might see references to Mexican culture, and it might speak about Mexico, but it wasn’t made in Mexico.”

The movie is also under fire for its depictions of transgender people. GLAAD, a non-profit advocacy group focused on LGBTQ representation in media, described it as a “profoundly retrograde depiction of a trans woman,” and linked a series of negative reviews by transgender critics.

“It’s a script that is so alienated from the process of transitioning as a trans woman – and yet blurts falsehoods out with such bold, intense conviction – that you’d think Audiard himself had gone through 500 different gender-affirming surgeries in one sitting,” wrote Amelia Hansford for Pink News.

“Certainly, this shallow understanding of trans people can’t still be interesting to cis people,” said Drew Burnett Gregory from Autostraddle. “How many times do cis people have to learn about us before a portrayal like this one rings as false to them as it does to me?”

There was also backlash resulting from comments made by Gascón about fellow best actress nominee Ferranda Torres, as Gascón said that members of Torres’s team were talking badly about her and “Emilia Pérez.” While Gascón clarified this comment, saying that “Fernanda has been a wonderful ally, and no one directly associated with her has been anything but supportive and hugely generous,” controversy about Torres continued as a series of caustic tweets resurfaced from Gascón’s past. These included inflammatory statements about Islam and George Floyd.

In one tweet from 2016, Gascón said, “Islam is becoming a hotbed of infection for humanity that urgently needs to be cured.”

In another from 2020, days after the George Floyd murder, Gascón said,  “I really think that very few people ever cared about George Floyd, a drug addict swindler, but his death has served to once again demonstrate that there are people who still consider black people to be monkeys without rights and consider policemen to be assassins. They’re all wrong.”

The tweets have since been deleted and Gascón has shut down her page on X. The actress apologized for the statements, saying,“As someone in a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain.”

Netflix, the streaming service “Emilia Pérez” was released on, has also been distancing itself from Gascón, with sources reporting the service will not be paying for her travel to scheduled appearances on entertainment shows, as well as not including her in promotional materials such as “for your consideration” advertisements.

While the film may be unpopular with many groups, it remains in the running for 13 Academy Awards. But this controversy does raise the question: If it wins, who will celebrate?