by Chris Gardner
LOS ANGELES (The Hollywood Reporter) --- The American Film Institute anointed 10 movies -- ranging from About a Boy, the Hugh Grant comedy, to The Quiet American, the Michael Caine drama -- as the year's 10 best as it announced its AFI Awards 2002 on Monday. The kudos also included the top 10 television shows and 10 moments of significance from the past year.
Making the cut in the motion picture category were Universal Pictures' About a Boy, New Line Cinema's About Schmidt and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Columbia Pictures' Adaptation, Fox Searchlight Pictures' Antwone Fisher, Miramax Films' Chicago, Frida, Gangs of New York and The Quiet American and Paramount Pictures/Miramax's The Hours.
On the television side, the list of 10 included Showtime's "The Believer," NBC's "Boomtown" and "The West Wing," the TNT telefilm "Door to Door," CBS' "Everybody Loves Raymond," HBO's "The Gathering Storm," "Six Feet Under" and "The Sopranos," the WB Network's "The Gilmore Girls" and Fox's "The Simpsons."
The AFI's moments of significance included the surge of DVD sales over VHS for the first year ever; the boxoffice phenomenon My Big Fat Greek Wedding; the "crisis in TV journalism" caused by the blurring lines between news and commentary, according to AFI; the Fox breakout hit "American Idol: The Search for a Superstar"; the naming of Martha Coolidge as president of the DGA, making her the fourth female topper of the major Hollywood guilds; the MTV reality series "The Osbournes"; the launch of Movielink.com; the debut of Steven Spielberg's Sci Fi Channel miniseries "Taken"; the rise of TiVo and other personal recording devices; and the death of Oscar winner and AFI Life Achievement Award recipient Billy Wilder.
The announcement of the honorees marks a departure from last year's AFI Awards, where individual winners were announced from among the nominees during a live broadcast on CBS. Because of low ratings, organizers opted to take another approach and will recognize all 10 of this year's winners in each category at a Jan. 16 luncheon at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills.
The honorees were culled by two AFI juries -- one for motion pictures and one for television -- each comprising one chair, three scholars, three artists, three critics and three AFI trustees. They convened Saturday and Sunday at the Park Hyatt in Century City to deliberate and vote on the winners.
The motion picture jury was composed of David Ansen of 'Newsweek', chair Jeanine Basinger of Wesleyan University, producer Lindsey Doran, filmmaker Julie Dash, film historian/scholar Jim Hosney, writer Fay Kanin, film critic Leonard Maltin, Ted Perry of Middelbury College, producer Tom Pollock, producer Bob Rehme, Carrie Rickey of the 'Philadelphia Enquirer', Tom Schatz of the University of Texas at Austin and producer Saul Zaentz.
Sitting on the television jury were director Neema Barnett, producer Barbara Corday, chair and former Academy of Television Arts & Sciences president Richard Frank, director-producer Lesli Linka Glatter, Kay McFadden of the 'Seattle Times', Horace Newcomb of the University of Georgia, filmmaker Daniel Petrie Jr., writer and WGA West president Victoria Riskin, Matt Roush of 'TV Guide', former ABC entertainment president Anthony Thomopoulos, Robert Thompson of Syracuse University, Ken Tucker of 'Entertainment Weekly' and director Peter Werner.
"Putting (the jury members) all in one room and locking the door becomes a very stimulating experience," AFI director and CEO Jean Picker Firstenberg said. "They're all deeply respectful and appreciative of great storytelling, and what they came up with was some remarkably creative movies and amazing television programs that have sustained a level of quality that will hold up for many years to come."
With the announcement of each film, television project and moment of significance, the juries issued an explanatory paragraph, detailing why they picked those projects and special moments. The complete rundown can be found at www.afi.com.
© 2002 The Hollywood Reporter