Overview
- AFI named its Motion Pictures of the Year as Avatar: Fire and Ash, Bugonia, Frankenstein, Hamnet, Jay Kelly, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, Sinners, Train Dreams and Wicked: For Good.
- The Television Programs of the Year are Adolescence, Andor, Death by Lightning, The Diplomat, The Lowdown, The Pitt, Pluribus, Severance, The Studio and Task.
- Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident received the AFI Special Award, which recognizes outstanding work outside the institute’s standard U.S.-focused eligibility rules.
- Coverage highlights streamer strength on the TV list, with Netflix and Apple TV leading the tally and HBO Max also landing multiple entries.
- Honorees will be celebrated at a Jan. 9, 2026 luncheon in Los Angeles, and juries chaired by Jeanine Basinger and Richard Frank—featuring artists and critics including Lily Gladstone and Patton Oswalt—compiled the lists, which historically overlap with Academy Best Picture nominees.