The American Film Institute Reveals Top 10 Films Of 2021, Including Dune And West Side Story
It's that time of the year when the best-of-the-year lists start trickling in, but in the case of the American Film Institute, it's not just one critic who's delivering their picks. AFI has a whole jury that deliberates these things, and now, they've released their selections for the best movies and television shows of 2021.
The AFI Awards, as they're officially dubbed, go out to "10 outstanding films and 10 outstanding TV programs deemed culturally and artistically representative of this year's most significant achievements in the art of the moving image."
Let's take a gander at the AFI Movies of the Year list first, which comes in alphabetical order:
CODA
DON'T LOOK UP
DUNE
KING RICHARD
LICORICE PIZZA
NIGHTMARE ALLEY
THE POWER OF THE DOG
tick, tick... BOOM!
THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH
WEST SIDE STORY
Some of these films, like "Don't Look Up" and "The Tragedy of Macbeth," are scheduled for a limited theatrical release before they hit streaming services a few weeks later. Others, such as "West Side Story," "Nightmare Alley," and "Licorice Pizza," will be exclusive to theaters but have not gone into a wide release yet.
Odds are, though, that you haven't seen at least half the movies on the list. If nothing else, it gives you some titles to look out for in the weeks to come.
As for TV, here are the AFI Television Programs of the Year (also in alphabetical order):
HACKS
MAID
MARE OF EASTTOWN
RESERVATION DOGS
SCHMIGADOON!
SUCCESSION
TED LASSO
THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
WANDAVISION
THE WHITE LOTUS
Special Awards and Who's on the Jury
AFI also designated Kenneth Branagh's film, "Belfast," Hwang Dong-hyuk's hit Netflix series, "Squid Game," and Questlove's Hulu documentary, "Summer of Soul," as recipients of the AFI Special Award for 2021.
In a press release, the institute revealed that this year's jury included filmmakers such as "Minari" director Lee Isaac Chung, screenwriter Liz Hannah ("The Post," "Mindhunter"), actress Anjelica Huston, and "Glory" director Ed Zwick. It also featured members of the AFI Board of Trustees and a number of renowned film historians, including Leonard Maltin, as well as various critics from the African American Film Critics Association, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the Los Angeles Times, National Public Radio, Rolling Stone, TV Guide, and The Washington Post.
The American Film Institute came to many people's attention back in 1998 when it released its first list of the 100 greatest American movies of all time. In the years following that, it unveiled a series of other "AFI's 100 Years..." lists, covering different film genres and themes. In 2007, it did a 10th-anniversary update of its inaugural "100 Years...100 Movies" list, and since then, these annual best-of lists have become more of a tradition.