The American Film Institute has unveiled their annual list of the best films of the year, honoring the best of American cinema as decided by a jury comprised of artists, academics and critics – actress Elizabeth Banks, cinematographer Rachel Morrison, author Mark Harris and famed critic Leonard Maltin were among those on this year’s jury. “This almanac documents works of excellence and is the only national honor for the entertainment community’s creative teams as a whole, celebrating the collaborative nature of the art form.” The films will be honored at the AFI Awards private luncheon on January 7th, a “noncompetitive and intimate event where AFI will reveal the jury rationales for each selection.”
This year the films selected as the best the year are:
- Arrival
- Fences
- Hacksaw Ridge
- Hell or High Water
- La La Land
- Manchester by the Sea
- Moonlight
- Silence
- Sully
- Zootopia
This year, an AFI Special Award will also be bestowed to Ezra Edelman’s acclaimed nearly-eight hour documentary O.J.: Made in America, a film that despite hard to decipher categorization – it premiered at Sundance, has recently earned Best Documentary honors from both the National Board of Review and New York Film Critics Circle and is on the Oscar shortlist for Best Documentary Feature despite being an ESPN Film production that aired on the network’s 30 for 30 series – registered with this year’s jury.
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