American Film Institute Announces 2012 AFI Awards: 'Django,' 'Dark Knight' In; 'Flight,' 'The Master' Out

The American Film Institute (AFI) today announced the official selections of AFI AWARDS 2012, which “documents the year’s most outstanding achievements in film and television.”

Both the film and television lists include 10 selections, with the film list often proving somewhat similar to what the Oscars end up going for in their best picture category. Though last year “Bridesmaids,” “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” and “J. Edgar” ended up on the AFI list before missing out on Oscar (“The Artist” was notably ineligible as it was a non-American production).

READ MORE: A Complete Guide To 2012-13 Awards Season

This year, the likes of Ben Affleck, Christopher Nolan, Quentin Tarantino, Kathryn Bieglow, Ang Lee, Steven Spielberg, Wes Anderson, David O. Russell and Tom Hooper are all represented on this list alongside newcomer Benh Zeitlin, whose “Beasts of the Southern Wild” made the cut. Tarantino’s “Django Unchained” and Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises” are perhaps the bigger surprises of the list, which left off Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master” and Robert Zemeckis’s “Flight.”

Michael Haneke’s “Amour” and Sam Mendes’ “Skyfall” were among the ineligible films due to their non-American production status, though “Les Miserables” was a bit of a surprise in that regard given it is primarily a UK production.

Check out both the film and TV lists below:

AFI MOVIES OF THE YEAR

ARGO

BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

DJANGO UNCHAINED

LES MISÉRABLES

LIFE OF PI

LINCOLN

MOONRISE KINGDOM

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

ZERO DARK THIRTY

AFI TV PROGRAMS OF THE YEAR

AMERICAN HORROR STORY

BREAKING BAD

GAME CHANGE

GAME OF THRONES

GIRLS

HOMELAND

LOUIE

MAD MEN

MODERN FAMILY

THE WALKING DEAD

AFI will honor the creative ensembles for each of the selections at an invitation-only luncheon on Friday, January 11, 2013 in Los Angeles, California.

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