The American Film Institute has announced its picks for the best films of 2019 amid one of the busiest precursor weeks of awards season.
Joining the likes of the National Board of Review, the Gotham Awards, and the New York Film Critics Circle, AFI announced its year-end top 10 films list Wednesday afternoon, adding major weight to the Oscar bids for breakthrough contenders like Todd Phillips’ Joker and Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, which earned their first major notices on the trail thus far, as well as Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story, and Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, which has thus far generated major traction at the awards precursors as a top contender for Best Picture.
Also appearing on the AFI’s unranked top 10 list are Lulu Wang’s The Farewell, Rian Johnson’s Knives Out, Sam Mendes’ 1917, Clint Eastwood’s Richard Jewell, and Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit, which also won the TIFF People’s Choice Award (a reliable Oscar bellwether).
Comprised of filmmakers, critics, and other industry professionals, the AFI is a non-profit film organization that honors and supports the production of American movies, meaning likely Oscar contenders like Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite were ineligible to land a spot on the group’s top 10 list, though the film did receive a special honor outside the AFI top 10.
AFI top 10 movies of 2019 (listed alphabetically):
1917
The Farewell
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Knives Out
Little Women
Marriage Story
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Richard Jewell
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