AFI President

Los Angeles, CA: Today, the American Film Institute (AFI) announced that AFI AWARDS 2021, celebrating the year’s most outstanding achievements in film and television, will take place on Friday, Jan. 7, 2022, in Los Angeles. Honorees will be announced on Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021.

Immediately following the honoree-only event in Los Angeles, AFI will also launch a 20-day tribute to each honoree with new and exclusive content for the daily global audience in AFI Movie Club.

“AFI AWARDS is honored to celebrate a year of extraordinary storytelling that has inspired us to see the horizon beyond troubled times,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI President & CEO. “This is an event with hugs and handshakes at its heart – and we look forward to gathering our honorees again, along with global audiences via AFI Movie Club, to shine a proper light upon the role art plays in advancing our culture in positive and profound ways.”

AFI AWARDS was created in 2000 to recognize the films and television programs which contribute to our collective cultural legacy. Official selections are made through AFI’s unique jury process – in which scholars, artists, critics and AFI Trustees determine the most outstanding achievements of the year. Honorees are selected based on works which advance the art of the moving image, inspire audiences and artists alike, and enhance the rich cultural heritage of America’s art form. When placed in an historical context, these stories provide a complex, rich, visual record of our modern world.

With health and safety being top priority, AFI AWARDS 2021 will follow all COVID precautions and require all in-person attendees to be fully vaccinated.

About the American Film Institute (AFI)

The American Film Institute (AFI) is a nonprofit organization with a mandate to champion the moving image as an art form. Established in 1967, AFI launched the first comprehensive history of American film and sparked the movement for film preservation in the United States. In 1969, AFI opened the doors of the AFI Conservatory, a graduate-level program to train narrative filmmakers. AFI’s enduring traditions include the AFI Life Achievement Award, which honors the masters for work that has stood the test of time; AFI AWARDS, which celebrates the creative ensembles of the most outstanding screen stories of the year; and scholarly efforts such as the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and the AFI Archive that preserve film history for future generations. AFI exhibition programs include AFI FEST, AFI DOCS and year-round exhibition at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Maryland. Other pioneering programs include workshops aimed at increasing diversity in the storytelling community, including the AFI Directing Workshop for Women and the AFI Cinematography Intensive for Women. AFI’s newest program is AFI Movie Club, a daily global engagement for those who love the movies. Read about all of these programs and more at AFI.com and follow us on social media at Facebook.com/AmericanFilmInstitute, YouTube.com/AFI, Twitter.com/AmericanFilm and Instagram.com/AmericanFilmInstitute.

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