AFT Awards: Best Breakthrough Performance

This is the twentieth category of the 5th 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.

The winner:
Thomas Horn (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) went from winning Jeopardy Kids Week to delivering a mature, genuine performance of a grieving child.

Other nominees:
William Johnk Nielsen and Markus Rygaard (In a Better World) were exceptional as two young boys struggling in their situations. Harmony Santana (Gun Hill Road) was passionate and heartfelt in her portrayal of someone lost in society. Jeremy Dozier (Dirty Girl) was funny and considerably more three-dimensional than his familiar loser character might otherwise have been.