August 6, 2026

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THE SHAPE OF WATER (2017) – AFI Movie Club

From the mind of director Guillermo Del Toro – who will receive an Honorary Degree at the commencement exercises of the AFI Conservatory tomorrow – THE SHAPE OF WATER (2017) stars Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones, Michael Stuhlbarg – and AFI Trustee Octavia Spencer. The film was also honored with an AFI Award, recognizing it as one of the most outstanding achievements in the art of the moving image during the year of its release. According to the official rationale, “THE SHAPE OF WATER bursts with humanity at its best in a story awash in the inhuman treatment of those who are different. Guillermo del Toro marshals memories of American film – from silent classics to 1930s musicals to 1950s horror films – to create a visually stunning, phantasmagorical romance that is both astonishingly new and echoes as a tale as old as time. Sally Hawkins delivers a tour de force performance without uttering a word, reminding that cinema at its finest can express the purest form of love.”