AFI AWARDS 2001

The American Film Institute (AFI) launched a new chapter in the esteemed organization’s national mandate when it presented its first annual AFI Awards at the historic Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. The three-hour program was broadcast live on the CBS Television Network and honored the collaborative teams and individuals who created the year’s most outstanding achievements in film and television.

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The recipients of these first AFI Awards are:

AFI AWARDS FOR MOVIES

AFI Movie of the Year

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING

Producers: Barrie M. Osborne, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Tim Sanders, New Line

AFI Actor of the Year – Male – Movies

Denzel Washington…as Alonzo Harris in TRAINING DAY

AFI Actor of the Year – Female – Movies

Sissy Spacek…as Ruth Fowler in IN THE BEDROOM

AFI Featured Actor of the Year – Male – Movies

Gene Hackman…as Royal Tenenbaum in THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS

AFI Featured Actor of the Year – Female – Movies

Jennifer Connelly…as Alicia Nash in A BEAUTIFUL MIND

AFI Director of the Year

Robert Altman – GOSFORD PARK

AFI Screenwriter of the Year

Christopher Nolan – MEMENTO

AFI Cinematographer of the Year

Roger Deakins – THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE

AFI Editor of the Year

Jill Bilcock – MOULIN ROUGE!

AFI Production Designer of the Year

Grant Major – THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING

AFI Digital Effects Artist of the Year

Jim Rygiel – THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING

AFI Composer of the Year

Craig Armstrong – MOULIN ROUGE!

AFI AWARDS FOR TELEVISION

AFI Drama Series of the Year

THE SOPRANOS (HBO)

AFI Comedy Series of the Year

CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM (HBO)

AFI Movie or Mini-Series of the Year

BAND OF BROTHERS (HBO)

AFI Actor of the Year – Male – TV Series

James Gandolfini…as Tony Soprano in THE SOPRANOS (HBO)

AFI Actor of the Year – Female – TV Series

Edie Falco…as Carmela Soprano in THE SOPRANOS (HBO)

AFI Actor of the Year – Male – TV Movie or Mini-Series

Jeffrey Wright…as Martin Luther King, Jr. in BOYCOTT (HBO)

AFI Actor of the Year – Female – TV Movie or Mini-Series

Judy Davis…as Judy Garland in LIFE WITH JUDY GARLAND: ME AND MY SHADOWS (ABC)

AFI MOVIES OF THE YEAR

A BEAUTIFUL MIND

…is one of the few films ever to suggest that the life of the mind can be as exciting and intriguing as any thriller. Based on the story of Nobel Prize-winning mathematician John Nash, the film’s subtle, but masterful cinematic technique puts audiences inside the mind of a troubled genius when he begins to question reality. Read the AFI Catalog entry

BLACK HAWK DOWN

…is an unrelenting combat experience. Leaving behind the traditional rules of the genre, the film immerses its audience in the cold reality of war. It arrives in theaters at a moment in American history which could not be more timely. Read the AFI Catalog entry

IN THE BEDROOM

…is a rich, subtle examination of the American family. It’s a movie in which the characters talk to one another, but never really say what’s on their minds or in their hearts. The filmmakers trust the audience to watch, listen and understand the truth revealed by the film’s outstanding performances. Read the AFI Catalog entry

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING

…taps the magical forces of American film to bring life to J.R.R. Tolkien’s rich literary legacy. Never losing sight of the “human” elements of this first book in his trilogy, the scope of the film sets the standard by which future motion picture epics should be judged. Read the AFI Catalog entry

THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE

…uses stunning black-and-white cinematography to evoke the memory of classic American film noir, but presents its story with a modern sensibility. By mixing dark humor with stark violence, the movie lays out a series of events where a man nobody notices changes the lives of everyone around him. Read the AFI Catalog entry

MEMENTO

… turns the traditional rules of movie narrative upside down, backwards, forwards and sideways. The film is like a complex jigsaw puzzle, but after all the pieces are assembled, it turns out not to be the picture on the box. Read the AFI Catalog entry

MONSTER'S BALL

… is a love story that resists the usual tradition of movie romances. When a white prison correction officer and a black single mother are drawn together by a series of tragic events, the result is an unsentimental, complex mixture of sex, race and family that provides no easy answers. Read the AFI Catalog entry

MOULIN ROUGE!

… is a kaleidoscope of melodrama, soap opera and opera, which updates the traditional American musical genre. The film tells the story of a passionate but doomed love affair in dynamic images that explode with color, energy and humor. Read the AFI Catalog entry

MULHOLLAND DRIVE

… is a classic example of the poetry of personal cinema. The film takes the audience to an erotic world — a dreamlike Los Angeles landscape where things are not always what they seem, but where the images never lose their beauty and power. Read the AFI Catalog entry

SHREK

… is an animated film that takes an eraser to traditional fairy tale characters and situations. Moving at a fast pace with wit and intelligence, SHREK delivers solid family entertainment that is sheer pleasure for young and old. Read the AFI Catalog entry

AFI TELEVISION PROGRAMS OF THE YEAR

ANNE FRANK

Hans Proppe
(ABC)

BAND OF BROTHERS

Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks
(HBO)

BOYCOTT

Norman Twain, Shelby Stone
(HBO)

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER

Joss Whedon, Marti Noxon

(UPN)

CONSPIRACY

Frank Pierson, Peter Zinner, David M. Thompson, Frank Doelger
(HBO)

CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM

Larry David
(HBO)

EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND

Philip Rosenthal
(CBS)

MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE

Linwood Boomer
(FOX)

SEX AND THE CITY

Darren Star, Michael Patrick King
(HBO)

SIX FEET UNDER

Alan Ball
(HBO)

THE SOPRANOS

David Chase
(HBO)

THE WEST WING

Aaron Sorkin
(NBC)

MOMENTS OF SIGNIFICANCE

DVD IN/VHS OUT

The sale of DVDs surpassed VHS sales for the first time in 2002. In addition to signaling the desire by consumers for quality picture and sound, the enormous success of DVD inspires filmmakers and studios to invest time, effort and money in presenting additional materials for films old and new. The access to these materials represents a significant step in film education for both the general public and scholars.

MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING

Originally developed by Nia Vardalos as a one-woman stage show, MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING became a word-of-mouth phenomena and went on to become both the highest-grossing independent film of all time and, more significantly, the highest-grossing romantic comedy of all time. Miss Vardalos adapted the screenplay from her play and starred in the film. Without the benefit of a major marketing and advertising campaign, MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING provides a reminder that the public is the ultimate arbiter of what makes good entertainment.

CRISIS IN TV JOURNALISM

As television news has become a larger profit center for network and cable channels, an intensely competitive environment has increased the tendency to blur the line between news/commentary, news/entertainment and news/advocacy on all channels. AFI hopes that television will find a solution that will better serve the public interest, but in the interim, reminds audiences that the responsibility to seek an objective opinion is more difficult to find on a single channel.

AMERICAN IDOL

Fox’s AMERICAN IDOL brought an old-fashioned concept into the new century when young amateurs from around the nation competed for the title of “American Idol.” Founded in a television concept that can be traced back to Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts, which ran on CBS from 1948 to 1958, the slickly packaged summer series swept the nation with the notion that the American dream is still alive for young, talented performers.

WOMEN LEAD ALL FOUR GUILDS

When Martha Coolidge became the first female president of the Directors Guild of America on March 10, 2002, all of the major guilds were led by women for the first time. Victoria Riskin has served as president of the Writers Guild since September 21, 2001. Kathleen Kennedy served as co-president of the Producers Guild in 2001 and was elected president on May 20, 2002. Melissa Gilbert was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild on March 9, 2002.

THE OSBOURNES

THE OSBOURNES is the happy accident of 2002, garnering a legion of fans by presenting the day-to-day tribulations of their strange, but loving family in a hybrid of reality television, situation comedy and melodrama. Where 1973’s television experiment THE AMERICAN FAMILY shattered the image of a “normal” family, THE OSBOURNES have shattered the image of an “abnormal” family by reminding America that each family is unique in its own, often bizarre, way.

MOVIELINK.COM LAUNCHES MODEL FOR FUTURE DISTRIBUTION

Five of Hollywood’s biggest studios (Paramount, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal, Warner Bros.) launched a video-on-demand service that will allow consumers to access the studios’ libraries of films via a broadband Internet connection. The joint venture is one of the biggest distribution advances since Hollywood’s earliest days, when studios distributed their films to a network of studio-owned theaters.

STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS TAKEN

The Sci Fi Channel’s ambitious presentation of the 20-hour epic mini-series TAKEN has resurrected the potential for long-form storytelling on commercial television. Scheduled over ten consecutive weeknights, this landmark achievement and the vast creative ensemble who collaborated to bring it to television — including 10 different directors and a single writer — will hopefully spawn others who take risks at this level.

TIVO BECOMES A VERB

As further evidence of the digital revolution continuum, TIVO and other “personal recording devices” have penetrated the national consciousness to a degree that they have begun to affect how television is not only watched, but produced and presented.

BILLY WILDER, 1906 - 2002

On March 27, legendary writer/director/producer Billy Wilder died at the age of 95. Recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1986 and winner of five Academy Awards, Wilder gave the world several of America’s greatest film achievements, including SUNSET BLVD., DOUBLE INDEMNITY, THE APARTMENT, THE LOST WEEKEND and SOME LIKE IT HOT.

AFI Awards

AFI JURY FOR MOTION PICTURES

Jeanine Basinger

Mary Corey

Shawn Edwards

Bob Gazzale

Lily Gladstone

Mark Harris

Ann Hornaday

Lisa Kennedy

Akira Mizuta Lippit

Leonard Maltin

Janet Maslin

Patton Oswalt

Peter Travers

AFI JURY FOR TELEVISION

Richard Frank

Cris Abrego

Jean Picker Firstenberg

Bob Gazzale

L.S. Kim

Debra Lee

Lauren LeFranc

Lori McCreary

Matt Roush

Thomas Schlamme

Emma Stefansky

Nina Tasslerg

Robert Thompson

AFI JURY FOR MOTION PICTURES

Jeanine Basinger

Justin Chang

Shawn Edwards

Bob Gazzale

Mark Harris

Ann Hornaday

Gale Anne Hurd

Akira Mizuta Lippit

Leonard Maltin

Janet Maslin

Charles Melton

Da’Vine Joy Randolph

Peter Travers

AFI JURY FOR TELEVISION

Richard Frank

Cris Abrego

Bob Gazzale

Sterlin Harjo

Linda Holmes

Inkoo Kang

L.S. Kim

Debra Lee

Melanie McFarland

Mary McNamara

Matt Roush

Jane Seymour

Robert Thompson

AFI JURY FOR MOTION PICTURES

Jeanine Basinger

Sarah Broshar

Shawn Edwards

Bob Gazzale

Mark Harris

Ann Hornaday

Lisa Kennedy

Akira Mizuta Lippit

Leonard Maltin

Janet Maslin

Gina Prince-Bythewood

Peter Travers

AFI JURY FOR TELEVISION

Richard Frank

Paris Barclay

Mary Beltrán

David Chase

Bob Gazzale

Inkoo Kang

Debra Lee

Carol Leifer

Mary McNamara

Jeanine Basinger 

Bob Gazzale 

Leonard Maltin 

Peter Travers 

Jeanine Basinger 

Bob Gazzale 

Leonard Maltin 

Peter Travers 

Richard Frank 

Bob Gazzale 

Matt Roush 

Robert Thompson 