AFT Awards: Best Director

This is the twenty-third category of the 12th 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 Star is Born, Annihilation, Black Panther, Blindspotting, Capernaum, Colette, First Man, Mid90s, Never Goin' Back, Night Comes On

Runners-up:
Sebastian Lelio (Disobedience)
Debra Granik (Leave No Trace)
Ziad Doueiri (The Insult)
Simon Baker (Breath)
Bill Oliver (Jonathan)

The winner:
Bart Layton (American Animals) coolly helmed a transformative definition of the documentary-narrative hybrid that set a new bold of expectations for the genre.

Other nominees:
Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite) made what, for him, counts as a mainstream film, leaving his distinct imprint on a story not at all his own. Alfonso Cuaron (Roma) loyally shepherded a quiet story about two unappreciated women into one of the most poignant portraits of the year. Barry Jenkins (If Beale Street Could Talk) dealt sensitively with a powerful and emotional story, bringing it to the screen with extraordinary care. Steve McQueen (Widows) made an action movie that was so much more than that, tackling class issues and societal problems without sacrificing the direction or pacing of the film.