AFI Awards 2020 include The Queen’s Gambit, Mank & more

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

AFI, awards, American Film Institute, The Queen's Gambit, Mank

The American Film Institute has announced the winners of the AFI Awards for 2020, thereby revealing the top ten films and TV shows “deemed culturally and artistically representative of this year’s most significant achievements in the art of the moving image.” Oh, how fancy!

Speaking of fancy, Netflix was a big winner this year, occupying four of the ten slots with Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods, Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7, David Fincher's Mank, and George C. Wolfe's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. Amazon managed to snag two awards with prizes for Regina King’s One Night in Miami and Darius Marder’s Sound of Metal, both of which were feature directorial debuts for both King and Marder.

With regard to television, Netflix was once again Master of the Domain with Bridgerton, The Crown, The Queen's Gambit, and Unorthodox all going home with a win. Other shows that managed to make the cut include AMC's Better Call Saul, HBO Max's Lovecraft Country, Disney Plus' The Mandalorian, and Apple TV Plus' Ted Lasso, just to name a few.

You can check out the complete list of winners for both categories below:

AFI Movies of the Year

“Da 5 Bloods” (Netflix)
“Judas and the Black Messiah” (HBO Max/Warner Bros.)
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (Netflix)
“Mank” (Netflix)
“Minari” (A24)
“Nomadland” (Searchlight Pictures)
“One Night in Miami” (Amazon Studios)
“Soul” (Pixar)
“Sound of Metal” (Amazon Studios)
“The Trial of the Chicago 7” (Netflix)

AFI TV Shows of the Year

“Better Call Saul” (AMC)
“Bridgerton” (Netflix)
“The Crown” (Netflix)
“The Good Lord Bird” (Showtime)
“Lovecraft Country” (HBO Max)
“The Mandalorian” (Disney Plus)
“Mrs. America” (Hulu)
“The Queen’s Gambit” (Netflix)
“Ted Lasso” (Apple TV Plus)
“Unorthodox” (Netflix)

Do you agree with AFI's list? What films or television series do you think are missing? Let us know your picks in the comments section below.

Source: Deadline

About the Author

Born and raised in New York, then immigrated to Canada, Steve Seigh has been a JoBlo.com editor, columnist, and critic since 2012. He started with Ink & Pixel, a column celebrating the magic and evolution of animation, before launching the companion YouTube series Animation Movies Revisited. He's also the host of the Talking Comics Podcast, a personality-driven audio show focusing on comic books, film, music, and more. You'll rarely catch him without headphones on his head and pancakes on his breath.