AFT Awards: Best Director

This is the twenty-seventh category of the 7th 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.

Honorable mentions (in alphabetical order):
A.C.O.D., Aftermath, Blancanieves , Concussion, Don Jon, The East, Enough Said, Fast and Furious 6, The Iceman, Just a Sigh, The Look of Love, Love Is All You Need, Monsters University, Nebraska, No, Our Day Will Come, The Past, The Spectacular Now, Star Trek Into Darkness, Warm Bodies, The Way, Way Back, What's in a Name? , Wish You Were Here

Runners-up:
Abdellatif Kekiche (Blue is the Warmest Color)
Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity)
Spike Jonze (Her)
Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave)
Rama Burshtein (Fill the Void)

The winner:
Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips) delivered a taut, unendingly tense and respectful story that never lost its sense of pacing and determination.

Other nominees:
Jeff Nichols (Mud) told a marvelous tale brimming with suspense and rich characters. Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station) crafted a moving tribute to a young man whose demise was depicted with such devastation. Ron Howard (Rush) drew out a monumental rivalry and a love for a sport that was accessible even to those with no prior interest in the subject. John Krokidas (Kill Your Darlings) found four writers at an early peak of their creativity and crafted a magnificent story to tell about them.