“The Power of the Dog” is showing plenty of bark and bite as awards season heats up. Jane Campion’s first feature in over a decade is among this year’s AFI Awards honorees. A press release revealed the “10 outstanding films and 10 outstanding TV programs [AFI has] deemed culturally and artistically representative of this year’s most significant achievements in the art of the moving image,” and Campion’s psychodrama Western made the cut in the film category. “CODA,” Sian Heder’s coming-of-age story about an aspiring singer who is the only hearing member in a Deaf family, also landed on the list.
AFI’s Television Programs of the Year include HBO Max’s “Hacks” and Netflix’s “Maid.” The former, created by Lucia Aniello, Jen Statsky, and Paul W. Downs, follows a legendary Vegas stand-up and the entitled millennial she hires to punch up her jokes, and the latter, created by Molly Smith Metzler, is a portrait of a single mother trying to escape an abusive relationship and provide for her daughter.
“AFI is honored to shine a proper light upon the most outstanding screen stories of 2021 and those who worked collaboratively to bring them to screens large and small,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI President and CEO. “From soaring in spirit to dark and dangerous – from heartbreaking to hilarious – these are the stories that have united us in uncertain times and continue to drive culture forward.”
Honorees will be celebrated at a private reception on January 7. Check out the complete list of films and television programs being highlighted by AFI here.