AFI Awards

Honoring a year of excellence.

AFI AWARDS 2000

On January 9, 2001, AFI announced the official selections of AFI 2000, a new annual program designed to recognize, preserve and honor excellence in the moving image during the 21st century. Selections include 10 AFI Movies of the Year and five AFI Moments of Significance.

The following 10 films have been selected by a 12-member jury as AFI Movies of the Year. Each of these films — listed alphabetically — best advances the art of the moving image; enhances the rich cultural heritage of America’s art form; inspires audiences and artists alike; and/or makes a mark on American society in matter of style or substance:

AFI MOVIES OF THE YEAR

ALMOST FAMOUS

…at the center of ALMOST FAMOUS lies a question: When it would be easier not to, do you write the truth? Cameron Crowe writes the truth in this story of a young rock journalist in the 1970s with a profound understanding that can come only from living it — and he directs with an uncommon attention to detail of time, place and character, capturing how deeply music affects us. Read the AFI Catalog entry

BEFORE NIGHT FALLS

…Julian Schnabel invigorates the biographical movie in his sensual, lyrical and searing memorial to the late Cuban novelist and poet Reinaldo Arenas, played by Javier Bardem with a riveting mixture of passion and playfulness. BEFORE NIGHT FALLS is a moving testament to artistic and sexual freedom, and Schnabel brings to it a painter’s eye and a documentarian’s attention to cultural detail. Read the AFI Catalog entry

BEST IN SHOW

…With BEST IN SHOW, director Christopher Guest and the ensemble cast elevate the mock-documentary form to new artistic heights. The film raises comedy to the level of insight and weaves a seamless narrative fabric from actors’ improvisation around a central theme. Fred Willard’s performance is worthy of special recognition. Read the AFI Catalog entry

ERIN BROCKOVICH

…this finely-crafted studio picture goes beyond the familiar with humor, texture and a fine attention to detail — an increasingly rare experience. ERIN BROCKOVICH, with its luminescent performance by Julia Roberts, accomplishes what all Hollywood films should aspire to: to excel both as art and as entertainment. Read the AFI Catalog entry

GLADIATOR

…updates the traditional American genre — the epic costume film — through cutting-edge technology. Its hero, a noble and unselfish man, is a type movies have celebrated for generations, but the modern methods used to create the world he lives in give viewers a new kind of spectacle for the new millennium. Read the AFI Catalog entry

HIGH FIDELITY

…is an offbeat odyssey about a 30-something record store owner who knows everything about pop music but nothing about life. A terrific ensemble cast includes music as a central character. The film effortlessly breaks the fourth wall and, rather then shoe-horning its quirky characters into a tidy resolution, chooses a real world ending. Read the AFI Catalog entry

REQUIEM FOR A DREAM

…Darren Aronofsky takes no prisoners in his harrowing second film, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM. Utilizing the language of cinema to startling film effect, he condenses information through multiple points-of-view and propulsive editing. Ellen Burstyn and Jared Leto give electrifying performances as a drug-addicted mother and son. Read the AFI Catalog entry

TRAFFIC

…Steven Soderbergh balances a complex narrative structure that includes three separate stories and multiple outstanding performances. TRAFFIC moves with clarity, grace and intelligence through a broad strata of American and Mexican society in this uncompromising tale about the never-ending fight to win a war against drugs. Read the AFI Catalog entry

WONDER BOYS

…this sophisticated, beautifully-written comedy of manners is a melancholy and funny coming-of-middle-age story. In WONDER BOYS, Curtis Hanson displays a sure comic-satiric touch and draws remarkable performances from his ensemble, particularly Michael Douglas as a literary one-hit-wonder and Tobey Maguire as his precocious student. Read the AFI Catalog entry

YOU CAN COUNT ON ME

…in YOU CAN COUNT ON ME, writer/director Kenneth Lonergan surprises time and again with his affecting story of a complicated, funny and emotional sister/brother relationship. Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo create heart-breakingly real characters in this underexplored thematic territory. Read the AFI Catalog entry

MOMENTS OF SIGNIFICANCE

The following five noteworthy events (listed chronologically) have had an impact on the world of the moving image during the calendar year 2000:

AOL-TIME WARNER MERGER

In the business story of the year, new media giant America Online agreed to buy the world’s largest traditional media company, Time Warner, creating an unprecedented marriage of distribution and content.

MOVIE MARKETING CALLED BEFORE CONGRESS

In response to a report from the Federal Trade Commission that cited movie studios, video game makers and the music industry as marketing violent entertainment to children under 17, senior executives from eight major movie studios-Disney, DreamWorks, Universal, Sony, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, Paramount and MGM — testified before the Senate Commerce Committee on September 27, 2000. It was the first time that studio executives had been called before Congress to defend the marketing of their films.

CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON BRINGS THE WORLD TOGETHER

The success of CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON marked a watershed moment in the ongoing emergence of global cinema which fuses storytelling style and substance from many cultures into a new sensibility that is accepted and enjoyed irrespective of language.

DGA REPORT FINDS DROP IN DIVERSITY

The Directors Guild of America reported on December 6, 2000, that the number of new women members was the lowest in five years, and there had also been a sharp decrease in hours worked by African-American directors in television.

DIGITAL REVOLUTION CONTINUUM

Throughout the year 2000, the Internet and other New Media continued to bring significant changes to film production, exhibition, marketing, distribution and copyrights.

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AFI Awards

AFI AWARDS 2000

AFI MOVIES OF THE YEAR

ALMOST FAMOUS

BEFORE NIGHT FALLS

BEST IN SHOW

ERIN BROCKOVICH

GLADIATOR

HIGH FIDELITY

REQUIEM FOR A DREAM

TRAFFIC

WONDER BOYS

YOU CAN COUNT ON ME

MOMENTS OF SIGNIFICANCE

AOL-TIME WARNER MERGER

MOVIE MARKETING CALLED BEFORE CONGRESS

CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON BRINGS THE WORLD TOGETHER

DGA REPORT FINDS DROP IN DIVERSITY

DIGITAL REVOLUTION CONTINUUM

SELECTION CRITERIA

A UNIQUE JURY PROCESS

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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 