Early yesterday, the African American Film Critics Association (of which I am a member) announced their awards for the best in TV and film for 2016. With a plethora of black-centric content this year, the group had lots of great work to champion. This was my third time voting in these awards and it is by far the strongest batch of winners we've had. I particularly loved the mentions for Ruth Negga (my pick for Breakout Performance), Viola Davis, Zootopia and Hell or High Water. Here is our full list of winners:
Film
Best picture: “Moonlight”
Director: Barry Jenkins, “Moonlight”
Lead actor: Denzel Washington, “Fences”
Lead actress: Ruth Negga, “Loving”
Supporting actor: Mahershala Ali, “Moonlight”
Supporting actress: Viola Davis, “Fences”
Ensemble: “Hidden Figures”
Breakout performance: Janelle Monae, “Moonlight” and “Hidden Figures”
Independent film: “Moonlight”
Animated film: “Zootopia”
Song: “Victory” from “Hidden Figures”
Documentary: “13th”
Foreign film: “Tanna”
Screenplay: August Wilson, “Fences”
Top 10 Films of 2016 in order of distinction:
- “Moonlight”
- “Fences”
- “Hidden Figures”
- “Lion”
- “La La Land”
- “Birth of a Nation”
- “Loving”
- “Manchester by the Sea”
- “Hell or High Water”
- “Queen of Katwe”
TV
Drama: ”Queen Sugar”
Comedy: ”Atlanta”
Cable/new media: ”Underground”
Special/limited series: ”Lemonade”
Top 10 TV shows of 2016 in order of distinction:
- “Queen Sugar”
- “Underground”
- “Atlanta”
- “Insecure”
- “Luke Cage”
- “This Is Us”
- “black-ish”
- “The Get Down”
- “Westworld”
- “Survivor’s Remorse”
