Chair, AFI Jury for Motion PicturesAFI ConservatoryDirector/Screenwriter
Dick Askin
Academy of Television Arts & SciencesAFI Board of Trustees
Richard Frank
Chair, AFI Jury for TelevisionAFI Board of Trustees
Steven Bochco
Producer/Screenwriter
Kevin S. Bright
Producer/Director
Paul Brownfield
Los Angeles Times
Michael Dinner
Producer/Director/Screenwriter
Barry Garron
The Hollywood Reporter
Amanda D. Lotz
University of Michigan
Brian Lowry
Variety
Tara McPherson
University of Southern California
Matt Roush
TV Guide
Vivian Sobchack
University of California, Los AngelesAFI Board of Trustees
Kristal Brent Zook
Columbia University
Robert G. Rehme
Chair, AFI Jury for Motion PicturesProducerAFI Board of Trustees
Michael Apted
Directors Guild of AmericaProducer/Director/ScreenwriterAFI Board of Trustees
Roger Birnbaum
Spyglass EntertainmentAFI Board of Trustees
Leo Braudy
University of Southern California
James L. Brooks
Producer/Director/Screenwriter
Mary Corey
University of California, Los Angeles
Jane Gaines
Duke University
Elvis Mitchell
National Public Radio
Diana Ossana
Producer/Screenwriter
David V. Picker
ProducerAFI Trustee Emeritus
Tom Pollock
ProducerAFI Board of Trustees
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
Anne Thompson
The Hollywood Reporter
Marshall Herskovitz
Chair, AFI Jury for TelevisionChair, AFI Jury for TelevisionAFI Board of Trustees
Dick Askin
Academy of Television Arts & SciencesTribune Entertainment CompanyAFI Board of Trustees
Lionel Chetwynd
Producer/Screenwriter
Mary Corey
University of California, Los Angeles
Tony Jonas
Producer
Jeffrey Kramer
Producer
Melanie McFarland
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Tara McPherson
University of Southern California
James Poniewozik
Time Magazine
Dorothea Petrie
Producer
Matt Roush
TV Guide
Del Reisman
AFI Conservatory
Robert G. Rehme
Chair, AFI Jury for Motion Pictures Producer AFI Board of Trustees
Martha Coolidge
Director
David Denby
The New Yorker
Anna Everett
University of California, Santa Barbara
Norman Jewison
Producer/Director
Tom Pollock
ProducerAFI Board of Trustees
Jay Roach
Producer/Director
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly
Vivian Sobchack
University of California, Los AngelesAFI Board of Trustees
David Thomson
Film Historian
Stephen Ujlaki
San Francisco State University
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
Laura Ziskin
Laura Ziskin
Richard Frank
Chair, AFI Jury for TelevisionThe FirmAFI Board of Trustees
Richard Askin, Jr.
Academy of Television Arts & SciencesTribune Entertainment Company AFI Board of Trustees
Neal Baer
Producer/Screenwriter
David Bianculli
The Daily News
Alex Ben Block
Television Week
Barbara Corday
Producer/Screenwriter
Mary Corey
University of California, Los Angeles
Melanie McFarland
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Tara McPherson
University of Southern California
Janet Murray
Georgia Institute of TechnologyAFI Board of Trustees
Horace Newcomb
University of GeorgiaGeorge Foster Peabody Awards
Jerry Offsay
Producer
Matt Roush
TV Guide
Roger Ebert
Chair, AFI Jury for Motion PicturesChicago Sun-TimesEBERT & ROEPER
David Ansen
Newsweek
Jeanine Basinger
Wesleyan UniversityAFI Trustee Emerita
Leo Braudy
University of Southern California
James Cromwell
Actor
Naomi Foner
Producer/Screenwriter
Joan Micklin Silver
Director/Screenwriter
Tom Pollock
ProducerAFI Board of Trustees
Robert G. Rehme
ProducerAFI Board of Trustees
Richard Schickel
Time MagazineProducer/Director/Screenwriter
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly
Michael Wood
Princeton University
Janet Yang
Producer
Diane Werts
Newsday
Dean Valentine
Former President & CEO, UPN
Penelope Spheeris
Director
Matt Roush
TV Guide
Dorothea Petrie
Producer
Horace Newcomb
University of GeorgiaGeorge Foster Peabody Awards
Brian Lowry
Variety
Helaine Head
University of Southern California
Ted Harbert
Producer
Chuck Fries
ProducerAFI Board of Trustees
Mary Corey
University of California, Los Angeles
Irby Brown
University of Richmond
Richard Frank
Chair, AFI Jury for TelevisionIntegrated Entertainment PartnersAFI Board of Trustees
Tom Pollock
ProducerAFI Board of Trustees
Anne V. Coates
Editor
Vivian Sobchack
University of California, Los AngelesAFI Board of Trustees
Leonard Schrader
AFI ConservatoryDirector/Screenwriter
Richard Schickel
Time MagazineProducer/Director/Screenwriter
Ted Perry
Middlebury CollegeAFI Trustee Emeritus
Curtis Marez
University of Southern California
Glenn Kenny
Premiere Magazine
Kirk Honeycutt
The Hollywood Reporter
Jay Boyar
Orlando Sentinel
Jeanine Basinger
Wesleyan UniversityAFI Trustee Emerita
John Badham
Director
Leonard Maltin
Chair, AFI Jury for Motion PicturesENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT
Richard Frank
Chair, AFI Jury for Television
Neema Barnett
Director
Barbara Corday
Producer
Lesli Linka Glatter
Producer/Director
Kay McFadden
The Seattle Times
Horace Newcomb
University of GeorgiaGeorge Foster Peabody AwardsAFI Trustee Emeritus
Daniel Petrie, Jr.
Producer/Director/ScreenwriteAFI Board of Trustees
Victoria Riskin
Writers Guild of AmericaScreenwriter
Matt Roush
TV Guide
Robert Thompson
Syracuse University
Anthony Thomopoulos
Former President, ABC EntertainmentMedia Arts Group, Inc.AFI Trustee Emeritus
Ken Tucker
Entertainment Weekly
Peter Werner
DirectorAFI Trustee Emeritus
Tom Pollock
ProducerAFI Board of Trustees
David Ansen
Newsweek
Jeanine Basinger
Chair, AFI Jury for Motion PicturesWesleyan UniversityAFI Trustee Emerita
Julie Dash
Producer/Director/Screenwriter
Lindsey Doran
Producer
Leonard Maltin
ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT
Fay Kanin
ScreenwriterAFI Board of Trustees
Jim Hosney
Film Historian/Scholar
Ted Perry
Middlebury CollegeAFI Trustee Emeritus
Bob Rehme
ProducerAFI Board of Trustees
Carrie Rickey
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Tom Schatz
University of Texas, Austin
Saul Zaentz
Producer
Barrie Lawson Loeks
Loeks-Star Theatres
Lucy Liu
Actor
Brian Lowry
Los Angeles Times
Sidney Lumet
Director
Shirley MacLaine
Actor
Delbert Mann
Director
Todd McCarthy
Variety
Kay McFadden
The Seattle Times
Joyce Millman
Salon.com
Dennis Muren
Digital Effects Artist
Chon Noriega
University of California, Los Angeles
Beverly O’Neill
California Institute of the Arts
Ted Perry
Middlebury College
Polly Platt
Producer/Production Designer
Dale Pollock
N.C. School of the Arts
Dorothy Rabinowitz
The Wall Street Journal
Peter Rainer
New York Magazine
Ken Ralston
Digital Effects Artist
Robert Richardson
Cinematographer
Howard Rosenberg
Los Angeles Times
Laurence Rosenthal
Composer
Gena Rowlands
Actor
Leah Rozen
People Magazine
Eva Marie Saint
Actor
Edgar Scherick
Producer
Lisa Schwartzbaum
Entertainment Weekly
Jan Scott
Production Designer
John Singleton
Producer/Director/Screenwriter
Robert Sklar
New York University
Barbara Smith
American Cinematheque
Penelope Spheeris
Director
Steven Spielberg
Producer/Director/ScreenwriterAFI Board of Trustees
Rod Steiger
Actor
Jon Storm
Philadelphia Inquirer
Mary Sweeney
Producer/Screenwriter/Editor
Anne Thompson
Premiere Magazine
Robert Thompson
Syracuse University
Richard Sylbert
Production Designer
Steve Tisch
Producer
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles TimesCinematographer
Amy Vincent
Cinematographer
Peter Werner
Director
Joanne Weintraub
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune
Ethel Winant
Producer
David Wolper
ProducerAFI Board of Trustees
Eugenio Zanetti
Production Designer
David Zurawik
Baltimore Sun
Hans Zimmer
Composer
Saul Zaentz
Producer
Debbie Allen
Producer/Director/ActorAFI Board of Trustees
Dede Allen
Editor
David Ansen
Newsweek
Darren Aronofsky
Director/Screenwriter
Alan Ball
Producer/Director/Screenwriter
Neema Barnette
Director
Ron Bass
Producer/Screenwriter
Robert Benton
Director/Screenwriter
Bob Boyle
Production Designer
Pieter Jan Brugge
Producer
Henry Bumstead
Production Designer
Michelle Byrd
Independent Features Project
Marcy Carsey
Producer
Mary Schmidt Campbell
NYU's Tisch School
Anne V. Coates
Editor
Richard Corliss
Time Magazine
Leslie Dilley
Production Designer
Richard Edlund
Digital Effects Artist
Nora Ephron
Producer/Director/Screenwriter
Steven Farber
Movieline
Milos Forman
Director
Stephen Gaghan
Screenwriter
Leslie Linka Glatter
Director
Jerry Goldsmith
Composer
Gary David Goldberg
Producer/Screenwriter
Tim Goodman
San Francisco Examiner
Mary Ann Grasso
National Assoc. of Theatre Owners
Christopher Guest
Director/Screenwriter/Actor
Amy Heckerling
Producer/Director/Screenwriter
Leonard Hill
Producer
Foster Hirsch
Scholar/Historian
Tina Hirsch
Editor
Winnie Holzman
Producer/Screenwriter
Kirk Honeycutt
The Hollywood Reporter
Dawn Hudson
Independent Feature Project West
Greg Hoblit
Producer/Director
Annette Insdorf
Columbia University
Mark Johnson
Producer
Spike Jonze
Director/Actor
Shirley Jones
Actor
Glenn Jordan
Producer/Director
Janusz Kamiński
Cinematographer
James Katz
Preservationist
Rita Kempley
The Washington Post
Kathleen Kennedy
ProducerAFI Board of Trustees
Callie Khouri
Screenwriter
James V. Kimsey
AFI Board of Trustees
Arnold Kopelson
Producer
Alan Ladd, Jr.
Producer
Martin Landau
Actor
Tom Pollock
Chair, AFI 2000 JuryAFI Board of Trustees
David Ansen
Film Journalist/Critic
Jeanine Basinger
Film Scholar
Bill Duke
AFI Board of Trustees
James Katz
Film Preservationist/Historian
Rita Kempley
Film Journalist/Critic
Michael Nesmith
AFI Board of Trustees
Thomas Schatz
Film Scholar
Vivian Sobchack
AFI Board of Trustees
Anne Thompson
Film Journalist/Critic
Saul Zaentz
Filmmaker
Steven Zaillian
Filmmaker
AFI AWARDS 2001
The American Film Institute (AFI) launched a new chapter in the esteemed organization’s national mandate when it presented its first annual AFI Awards at the historic Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. The three-hour program was broadcast live on the CBS Television Network and honored the collaborative teams and individuals who created the year’s most outstanding achievements in film and television.
The recipients of these first AFI Awards are:
AFI AWARDS FOR MOVIES
AFI Movie of the Year
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
Producers: Barrie M. Osborne, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Tim Sanders, New Line
AFI Actor of the Year – Male – Movies
Denzel Washington…as Alonzo Harris in TRAINING DAY
AFI Actor of the Year – Female – Movies
Sissy Spacek…as Ruth Fowler in IN THE BEDROOM
AFI Featured Actor of the Year – Male – Movies
Gene Hackman…as Royal Tenenbaum in THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS
AFI Featured Actor of the Year – Female – Movies
Jennifer Connelly…as Alicia Nash in A BEAUTIFUL MIND
AFI Director of the Year
Robert Altman – GOSFORD PARK
AFI Screenwriter of the Year
Christopher Nolan – MEMENTO
AFI Cinematographer of the Year
Roger Deakins – THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE
AFI Editor of the Year
Jill Bilcock – MOULIN ROUGE!
AFI Production Designer of the Year
Grant Major – THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
AFI Digital Effects Artist of the Year
Jim Rygiel – THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
AFI Composer of the Year
Craig Armstrong – MOULIN ROUGE!
AFI AWARDS FOR TELEVISION
AFI Drama Series of the Year
THE SOPRANOS (HBO)
AFI Comedy Series of the Year
CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM (HBO)
AFI Movie or Mini-Series of the Year
BAND OF BROTHERS (HBO)
AFI Actor of the Year – Male – TV Series
James Gandolfini…as Tony Soprano in THE SOPRANOS (HBO)
AFI Actor of the Year – Female – TV Series
Edie Falco…as Carmela Soprano in THE SOPRANOS (HBO)
AFI Actor of the Year – Male – TV Movie or Mini-Series
Jeffrey Wright…as Martin Luther King, Jr. in BOYCOTT (HBO)
AFI Actor of the Year – Female – TV Movie or Mini-Series
Judy Davis…as Judy Garland in LIFE WITH JUDY GARLAND: ME AND MY SHADOWS (ABC)
AFI MOVIES OF THE YEAR
A BEAUTIFUL MIND
…is one of the few films ever to suggest that the life of the mind can be as exciting and intriguing as any thriller. Based on the story of Nobel Prize-winning mathematician John Nash, the film’s subtle, but masterful cinematic technique puts audiences inside the mind of a troubled genius when he begins to question reality. Read the AFI Catalog entry
BLACK HAWK DOWN
…is an unrelenting combat experience. Leaving behind the traditional rules of the genre, the film immerses its audience in the cold reality of war. It arrives in theaters at a moment in American history which could not be more timely. Read the AFI Catalog entry
IN THE BEDROOM
…is a rich, subtle examination of the American family. It’s a movie in which the characters talk to one another, but never really say what’s on their minds or in their hearts. The filmmakers trust the audience to watch, listen and understand the truth revealed by the film’s outstanding performances. Read the AFI Catalog entry
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
…taps the magical forces of American film to bring life to J.R.R. Tolkien’s rich literary legacy. Never losing sight of the “human” elements of this first book in his trilogy, the scope of the film sets the standard by which future motion picture epics should be judged. Read the AFI Catalog entry
THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE
…uses stunning black-and-white cinematography to evoke the memory of classic American film noir, but presents its story with a modern sensibility. By mixing dark humor with stark violence, the movie lays out a series of events where a man nobody notices changes the lives of everyone around him. Read the AFI Catalog entry
MEMENTO
… turns the traditional rules of movie narrative upside down, backwards, forwards and sideways. The film is like a complex jigsaw puzzle, but after all the pieces are assembled, it turns out not to be the picture on the box. Read the AFI Catalog entry
MONSTER'S BALL
… is a love story that resists the usual tradition of movie romances. When a white prison correction officer and a black single mother are drawn together by a series of tragic events, the result is an unsentimental, complex mixture of sex, race and family that provides no easy answers. Read the AFI Catalog entry
MOULIN ROUGE!
… is a kaleidoscope of melodrama, soap opera and opera, which updates the traditional American musical genre. The film tells the story of a passionate but doomed love affair in dynamic images that explode with color, energy and humor. Read the AFI Catalog entry
MULHOLLAND DRIVE
… is a classic example of the poetry of personal cinema. The film takes the audience to an erotic world — a dreamlike Los Angeles landscape where things are not always what they seem, but where the images never lose their beauty and power. Read the AFI Catalog entry
SHREK
… is an animated film that takes an eraser to traditional fairy tale characters and situations. Moving at a fast pace with wit and intelligence, SHREK delivers solid family entertainment that is sheer pleasure for young and old. Read the AFI Catalog entry
AFI TELEVISION PROGRAMS OF THE YEAR
ANNE FRANK
Hans Proppe
(ABC)
BAND OF BROTHERS
Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks
(HBO)
BOYCOTT
Norman Twain, Shelby Stone
(HBO)
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
Joss Whedon, Marti Noxon
(UPN)
CONSPIRACY
Frank Pierson, Peter Zinner, David M. Thompson, Frank Doelger
(HBO)
CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM
Larry David
(HBO)
EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND
Philip Rosenthal
(CBS)
MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE
Linwood Boomer
(FOX)
SEX AND THE CITY
Darren Star, Michael Patrick King
(HBO)
SIX FEET UNDER
Alan Ball
(HBO)
THE SOPRANOS
David Chase
(HBO)
THE WEST WING
Aaron Sorkin
(NBC)
MOMENTS OF SIGNIFICANCE
DVD IN/VHS OUT
The sale of DVDs surpassed VHS sales for the first time in 2002. In addition to signaling the desire by consumers for quality picture and sound, the enormous success of DVD inspires filmmakers and studios to invest time, effort and money in presenting additional materials for films old and new. The access to these materials represents a significant step in film education for both the general public and scholars.
MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING
Originally developed by Nia Vardalos as a one-woman stage show, MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING became a word-of-mouth phenomena and went on to become both the highest-grossing independent film of all time and, more significantly, the highest-grossing romantic comedy of all time. Miss Vardalos adapted the screenplay from her play and starred in the film. Without the benefit of a major marketing and advertising campaign, MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING provides a reminder that the public is the ultimate arbiter of what makes good entertainment.
CRISIS IN TV JOURNALISM
As television news has become a larger profit center for network and cable channels, an intensely competitive environment has increased the tendency to blur the line between news/commentary, news/entertainment and news/advocacy on all channels. AFI hopes that television will find a solution that will better serve the public interest, but in the interim, reminds audiences that the responsibility to seek an objective opinion is more difficult to find on a single channel.
AMERICAN IDOL
Fox’s AMERICAN IDOL brought an old-fashioned concept into the new century when young amateurs from around the nation competed for the title of “American Idol.” Founded in a television concept that can be traced back to Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts, which ran on CBS from 1948 to 1958, the slickly packaged summer series swept the nation with the notion that the American dream is still alive for young, talented performers.
WOMEN LEAD ALL FOUR GUILDS
When Martha Coolidge became the first female president of the Directors Guild of America on March 10, 2002, all of the major guilds were led by women for the first time. Victoria Riskin has served as president of the Writers Guild since September 21, 2001. Kathleen Kennedy served as co-president of the Producers Guild in 2001 and was elected president on May 20, 2002. Melissa Gilbert was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild on March 9, 2002.
THE OSBOURNES
THE OSBOURNES is the happy accident of 2002, garnering a legion of fans by presenting the day-to-day tribulations of their strange, but loving family in a hybrid of reality television, situation comedy and melodrama. Where 1973’s television experiment THE AMERICAN FAMILY shattered the image of a “normal” family, THE OSBOURNES have shattered the image of an “abnormal” family by reminding America that each family is unique in its own, often bizarre, way.
MOVIELINK.COM LAUNCHES MODEL FOR FUTURE DISTRIBUTION
Five of Hollywood’s biggest studios (Paramount, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal, Warner Bros.) launched a video-on-demand service that will allow consumers to access the studios’ libraries of films via a broadband Internet connection. The joint venture is one of the biggest distribution advances since Hollywood’s earliest days, when studios distributed their films to a network of studio-owned theaters.
STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS TAKEN
The Sci Fi Channel’s ambitious presentation of the 20-hour epic mini-series TAKEN has resurrected the potential for long-form storytelling on commercial television. Scheduled over ten consecutive weeknights, this landmark achievement and the vast creative ensemble who collaborated to bring it to television — including 10 different directors and a single writer — will hopefully spawn others who take risks at this level.
TIVO BECOMES A VERB
As further evidence of the digital revolution continuum, TIVO and other “personal recording devices” have penetrated the national consciousness to a degree that they have begun to affect how television is not only watched, but produced and presented.
BILLY WILDER, 1906 - 2002
On March 27, legendary writer/director/producer Billy Wilder died at the age of 95. Recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1986 and winner of five Academy Awards, Wilder gave the world several of America’s greatest film achievements, including SUNSET BLVD., DOUBLE INDEMNITY, THE APARTMENT, THE LOST WEEKEND and SOME LIKE IT HOT.
AFI AWARDS was created in 2000 to recognize the films and television programs which contribute to our collective cultural legacy. When placed in an historical context, these stories provide a complex, rich, visual record of our modern world. Since then, AFI AWARDS has honored 10 outstanding films and 10 outstanding TV programs deemed culturally and artistically representative of the year’s most significant achievements in the art of the moving image.
Collectively celebrating the most outstanding film and television programs of the year, AFI AWARDS 2021 honorees will be announced in December 2021.
Unique in its celebration of the art form’s collaborative nature, AFI AWARDS is the only national program that honors creative teams as a whole – recognizing those in front of and behind the camera.
SELECTION CRITERIA
Honorees are selected based on works which:
Advance the art of the moving image
Inspire audiences and artists alike
Enhance the rich cultural heritage of America’s art form
A UNIQUE JURY PROCESS
AFI AWARDS selections are made through AFI’s unique jury process – in which scholars, artists, critics and AFI Trustees determine the most outstanding achievements of the year.
For additional information about AFI AWARDS, contact Josh Kushins at [email protected]
AFI is a 501c3 non-profit advancing the art of the moving image by empowering storytellers and inspiring audiences
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