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 2015
AFI AWARDS celebrate the year’s most outstanding achievements in the art of the moving image — with 10 films and 10 television programs deemed culturally and artistically significant.
This year, AFI also recognizes MAD MEN with an AFI Special Award, acknowledging its landmark contributions to America’s cultural legacy across nine years. In the history of AFI AWARDS, no other television program has earned as many honors.
achieves the extraordinary — making sense of the 2008 market collapse and making it entertaining. Adam McKay’s whip-smart satire pulses with brazen pacing, pop-up celebrity cameos and AAA performances from Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt. This endlessly innovative comedy is also an object lesson in greed’s consequences for the many and, ultimately, a tale to break a nation’s heart.
BRIDGE OF SPIES
is history written in moving images and another chapter in this nation’s collective chronicle brought to life by an American master, Steven Spielberg. A brilliant script by Matt Charman and Joel and Ethan Coen serves as code to crack this story of the Cold War, with Tom Hanks proving his place in the canon alongside cinema’s great everyman heroes. His charge to defend a Soviet spy — portrayed in a transformative turn from Mark Rylance — embodies our nation in its finest hour, fighting for what’s right no matter the cost.
CAROL
sets the screen aglow with the light of longing as Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara transform a period piece into a timeless cry from defiant hearts. Todd Haynes serves their romance as a restorative cocktail, adding splashes of color to a repressive Eisenhower-era, when love was often seen in black-and-white. From luminous performances to sumptuous production, this is cinema’s promise fulfilled — a haunting portrait in moving images, painted in the universal hues of heartache and passion.
INSIDE OUT
invites audiences on an introspective adventure unlike any other — bringing to life the emotions that make us whole, while sending them on their own sentimental journey of self-discovery. Presenting this existential exploration as an epic candy-colored confection, Pete Docter and Pixar’s brain-trust have created an utterly unforgettable experience — taking us inside the mind of a young girl to consider the emotional bond between sadness and joy.
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
explodes with apocalyptic anarchy — a journey of fire and blood through which the action genre is razed to the ground and reborn. Visionary director George Miller drives the creative engine that fuels this cinematic fever dream with poetic rage and balletic brutality. Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron are the hardened heroes of this blockbuster bacchanal, breathing fearless purpose into chaos with steely, human resolve.
THE MARTIAN
takes us to another planet to illustrate what it is to be human. This epic tale of survival is directed with cosmic wonder by Ridley Scott, who fills space with breathtaking spectacle but saves the film’s greatest wonderment for the mind of man. Matt Damon’s singular performance orbits all aspects of human emotion — embodying a united world’s boundless capacity for hope, sparked by the soaring power of science.
ROOM
opens a window into a world of darkness — a harrowing nightmare for a mother and son held captive in unimaginable circumstances. Amidst the horror, Lenny Abrahamson creates an expansive space filled with wonder, and tenacious performances from Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay illuminate the power of imagination and hope, while asking us to consider the cost of survival.
SPOTLIGHT
puts the power of journalism on the front page. With measure befitting the investigative method, Tom McCarthy presents The Boston Globe’s inquiry into cardinal sins without tabloid sensationalism — creating tension around the team’s dauntless pursuit of truth. Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton and Rachel McAdams are the dogged journalists behind the story, standing for an age of integrity in the news media when no one was above question, including those asking the questions.
STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS
stands as a cultural landmark for generations young and old. J.J. Abrams takes the helm of George Lucas’ beloved saga with this epic popcorn opera fueled by the combined power of myth and movie magic. Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac and Adam Driver join the indelible characters created by Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill — expanding the iconic galaxy far, far away with this timeless gift to all who love the movies.
STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON
is an American anthem to the explosive power of art. This potent, pulsing story of the rise and fall of N.W.A is a raging tonic for troubled times — and F. Gary Gray’s ode to the strength of street knowledge stands as a celebration of talent, courage and voices rising against injustice. O’Shea Jackson, Jr., Corey Hawkins and Jason Mitchell inhabit their iconic roles as Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and Eazy-E with righteous attitude, honoring a rich legacy while expressing themselves to a new generation.
AFI TELEVISION PROGRAMS OF THE YEAR
THE AMERICANS
turns up the heat in its third year, as Joe Weisberg frames his Cold War thriller as an increasingly intimate family snapshot. With secrets uncovered by their daughter and facing fall-out from activities un-American, Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys expertly fuse domestic drama with espionage — a tightening vice with dire consequences.
BETTER CALL SAUL
makes its name on the bad breaks of its desperate shyster hero, deftly shifting tone from comedy to tragedy and back again. Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould cast a glance back to imagine a past all new and equally undeniable, as Bob Odenkirk embodies the series’ slippery spirit with a masterful sad-sack performance, always looking for validation and an angle.
BLACK-ISH
rejoices in the power of the sitcom to find what is funny in today’s issues of race and class. At the comedy’s core are insights into America’s everyday, as Kenya Barris and a stellar ensemble led by Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross strive to find balance between a family’s financial comfort and their collective discomfort with compromising their cultural identity.
EMPIRE
roars with the power of pure entertainment. Lee Daniels and Danny Strong take a more-is-more approach to this Shakespearean tale of hip-hop sovereignty that revels in the Lyon dynasty’s audacious excess. Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson raise the roof with pitch perfect performances, firmly placing Lucious and Cookie in the pantheon of TV power couples.
FARGO
paints a great American portrait of hell frozen over. Black comedy and white-knuckle suspense form an icy bond in the second year of Noah Hawley’s anthology series. Kirsten Dunst and Patrick Wilson lead a deliciously deadpan ensemble in an escalating bloodbath, where chills and Midwestern cheer fall like a quiet snow.
GAME OF THRONES
unfurls its wings to even greater cinematic horizons. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss chart a course through the series’ fifth year by exposing even its most powerful players to atavistic atrocities. This emphasis on the inhumanity of humanity evokes empathy for the most Machiavellian of monsters, as well as true horror when the blood of beloved heroes is spilled in snow.
HOMELAND
continues to shine as a beacon of the times, bringing the war on terror to television with breathtaking immediacy. This fifth year of Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon’s series expands its scope as an urgent lightning rod for global current events — from classified security leaks to the threat of ISIS. Hope is embodied by Carrie Mathison, the fractured force of nature played by the ever-extraordinary Claire Danes.
MASTER OF NONE
heralds Aziz Ansari as a jack-of-all-talents — a first-generation American whose take on today gives new voice to a contemporary coming of age. Together with co-creator Alan Yang and a cast that includes his parents, Ansari presents this slice-of-life series with the comfortable irreverence of a conversation between friends — discussing commitment and love, race and family, and the millennial battle between ambition and obligation.
MR. ROBOT
is electrifying entertainment. Riding a current between activism and anarchy, Sam Esmail’s kinky cyber-thriller acts as a hallucinatory looking glass — where nihilism is inspired by Christian Slater’s mysterious “fsociety” and contemporary fears are reflected in the mesmerizing eyes of Rami Malek.
UNREAL
turns an unblinking eye on the ugly reality of reality TV. This darkly comic meta-series from Marti Noxon and Sarah Gertrude Shapiro leaves humanity for dead on the cutting room floor as Shiri Appleby and Constance Zimmer’s malicious masterminds manipulate bad behavior in service of great television.
SPECIAL AWARD
MAD MEN
taught the world to sing of television as an art form. With a monumental final episode to a landmark run spanning nine years, Matthew Weiner’s meticulously crafted series transcended the tube to become a true cultural touchstone. AFI offers a two-martini toast to an American masterpiece, brought to life by an incomparable creative ensemble.
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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