AFT Awards: Best Breakthrough Performance

This is the nineteenth category of the 3rd Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are pictured in the order I’ve ranked them. Click here to see previous years of this category.

The winner:
Carey Mulligan (An Education) was effortlessly charming and absolutely marvelous a young girl enchanted by a mystery men and the promise of excitement.

Other nominees:
Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road) conveyed how much the tragedy in his bleak world had forced him to grow up at a monstrously accelerated pace. Christian McKay (Me and Orson Welles) stole the show and out-acted his entire cast in a tour de force performance. Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) handled a tough role with true strength and made the character feel unbelievably real. Leonie Benesch (The White Ribbon) brought light and enthusiasm to an otherwise gloomy, colorless village.