AFI Awards 2023 Highlights: Celebrating the Top 10 Films Including ‘Sinners’, ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’, and ‘Jay Kelly’

The American Film Institute (AFI) has unveiled its prestigious list of Top 10 Movies of the Year. This annual selection recognizes outstanding films and television programs, offering a key insight into potential Oscar contenders. Historically, the AFI’s list has often mirrored the Academy’s Best Picture nominees; in both 2023 and 2024, eight of the films awarded by AFI were also nominated for the Oscar.

This year’s honorees include Avatar: Fire and Ash, Bugonia, Frankenstein, Hamnet, Jay Kelly, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, Sinners, Train Dreams, and Wicked: For Good. Additionally, a Special Award was bestowed upon Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. While opportunities for international recognition remain, foreign films such as Sentimental Value and The Secret Agent did not receive awards this year.

Eligible American films that did not make the list include F1, A House of Dynamite, Nuremberg, Rental Family, and Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere.

Netflix emerged as the leading distributor with three selections: Frankenstein, Jay Kelly, and Train Dreams. Universal also secured three spots with Wicked: For Good, Bugonia, and Hamnet from its Focus Features label.

“For more than a quarter of a century, AFI Awards has held the flag high for community without competition,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI President & CEO. “It is AFI’s honor to celebrate these creative ensembles as one, as together they have proved the power of art in challenging times.”

The honorees will be celebrated during the AFI Awards private luncheon on January 9 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles, an event anticipated to be a highlight of the awards season.

Here are AFI’s Top 10 Movies of 2025:

• Avatar: Fire and Ash (20th Century Studios)
• Bugonia (Focus Features)
• Frankenstein (Netflix)
• Hamnet (Focus Features)
• Jay Kelly (Netflix)
• Marty Supreme (A24)
• One Battle After Another (Warner Bros)
• Sinners (Warner Bros)
• Train Dreams (Netflix)
• Wicked: For Good (Universal)