Overview
- AFI named an unranked slate of 10 films, including Avatar: Fire and Ash, Hamnet, Frankenstein, One Battle After Another, Sinners and Wicked: For Good.
- The television honorees include Adolescence, Severance, The Studio, The Pitt and Andor, with Apple TV leading platforms with three selections.
- Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident received the Special Award, following his recent sentencing in Iran and the film’s Cannes Palme d’Or win.
- Juries of artists, critics, scholars and AFI trustees, chaired by Jeanine Basinger and Richard Frank, selected the honorees under AFI’s “community without competition” model.
- Coverage highlights Netflix’s three film entries and Warner Bros.’ pair of titles, notes omissions such as F1 and A House of Dynamite, and points to a Jan. 9, 2026 luncheon in Los Angeles to celebrate the selections.