The American Film Institute released its AFI Awards for 2025, which include its AFI top 10 lists for film and television, and, yes, Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” made the former. Moreover, as expected, Emmy favorites “Andor,” “The Pitt,” “The Studio,” and “Adolescence” landed on the latter. As always, there were a surprise or two.
The top 10 lists are as follows:
Motion Pictures of the Year
AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH
BUGONIA
FRANKENSTEIN
HAMNET
JAY KELLY
MARTY SUPREME
ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER
SINNERS
TRAIN DREAMS
WICKED: FOR GOOD
Television Programs of the Year
ADOLESCENCE
ANDOR
DEATH BY LIGHTNING
THE DIPLOMAT
THE LOWDOWN
THE PITT
PLUR1BUS
SEVERANCE
THE STUDIO
TASK
AFI Special Award
IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT
It should be noted that international films do not qualify for the AFI Top 10 lists. Hence, the Palm d’Or winner “It Was Just An Accident” earned a Special Award.
Awards season has been dominated by “One Battle” so far, as it’s taken the NYFCC, NBR, and Gotham Awards honors for Best Film or Best Feature of 2025. Traditionally, two AFI mentions do not make Oscar’s cut for a Best Picture nomination. In this decade, that meant “A Real Pain” and “Sing Sing” last year. In 2023, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” and “May December” (although the former earned an Animated Feature nom). In 2022, “The Woman King,” “She Said,” and “Nope” didn’t make the cut. In 2021, “Tick, Tick… Boom!” and “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” And in 2020, “Da 5 Bloods,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” “One Night in Miami,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” and “Soul” (which also earned an Animated Feature nomination).
“The Studio,” “The Pitt,” and “Adolescence” all won their respective categories at the 2025 Emmy Awards and are expected to dominate the year-end guild awards season.
Films that were overlooked this year by the AFI committee, a mix of critics and industry figures, include “F1,” “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery,” “Is This Thing On?,” “Weapons,” “Sorry, Baby,” “Rental Family,” and “The Testament of Ann Lee.”
A great year in television saw “Alien: Earth,” “The White Lotus,” “Paradise,” “Forever,” “The Last of Us,” and “Dying for Sex,” among others, just missing the cut.
The honorees will be celebrated during a private luncheon on January 9.
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