The African American Film Critics Association Awards returned to Beverly Wilshire on Wednesday to celebrate Black stories and diversity across cinema and the entertainment industry, honoring this year’s winners announced in December including its Best Picture winner Nickel Boys.

Founded in 2003, the AAFCA is a Black critics organization that dedicates itself to covering film at large, emphasizing movies and TV showcasing the Black experience and/or written, directed, produced, or starring people from across the African diaspora.

“This has been a defining year for cinema, with an impressive array of stories that capture the complexity, resilience and beauty of the human experience,” president and co-founder Gil Robertson said about the 16th annual celebration. “We are proud to honor this year’s filmmakers and talent whose work continues to expand the scope of humanity on screen. These films do more than entertain — they amplify voices and perspectives that deserve to be heard, and we look forward to celebrating their lasting impact.” 

Wednesday’s host was comedian Amber Ruffin, who kicked off the ceremony referencing the Trump era’s DEI rollbacks and inflation. “I have to be honest. Things feel really bad right now. Between the rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion, the price of eggs … it’s insane,” she said. Ruffin also reinforced the importance of being in Black spaces by not letting the doom and gloom of the recent administration’s executive orders permeate the room. “This group proves that no matter what they think they can take from us, we will continue to spread joy through the power of faith, and our joy is our resilience. … We create in spite of. We love to tell our stories in spite of. We excel in spite of, and tonight we celebrate with each other in spite of.” 

The organization’s most awarded film was A24’s Sing Sing, which picked up trophies for Best Screenplay, Clarence Maclin for Best Supporting Actor, and Colman Domingo for Best Actor. During his speech, Domingo, who won the group’s Best Actor award for his role in Netflix’s Rustin last year, reflected on his long career and desire to amplify voices in the industry.  

“[When you’ve been working for a long time], you start to get retrospectives of your work, and you get invited to these rooms and get beautiful honors. You start to think about, in your quiet space, what you’ve been building and what you’ve been doing. For me, [it’s been] 34 years. And when it culminates in a film like Sing Sing, I start to realize what I’ve been trying to do,” the actor said. “With all the projects that I’ve been doing, it’s starting to crystalize now that [my goal in this industry is] to be love. I want to be love on every set. I want to empower my fellow actors to play with joy and respect. I want to build rooms that are equitable for everyone. I want to bring the light in all these dark places. We’re in these rooms for 14 to 16 hours a day, away from our family. So why not make it the most joyful and most loving? I invite you all to do that because I know that’s what I was invited to be with Sing Sing.” 

Sing Sing, directed and co-written by Greg Kwedar and based on a true story, follows a group of prison inmates who join their local theater troupe in hopes of fulfilling creative joy and personal enlightenment while incarcerated.

Domingo touched upon the unique environment of the film, which involved working with actual inmates inside various inactive correctional facilities. “Greg gave me that responsibility to put myself in the center with these men who had never been on a film set,” he said. “They have this lived experience, and they found this light in the darkness of theater and it transformed their lives. Especially my brother, Clarence Maclin. There’s a bit of light and darkness that we have. And I’ll tell you to hold on because these brothers did the work to hold on to their humanity and their light and their love and their creativity in a very dark space. If they can do it, imagine what we can do.” 

Documentary filmmakers Natalie Rae and Angela Patton echoed those sentiments during their speech for the Best Documentary win for Daughters, a film revolving around four young Black girls as they facilitate attending a father-daughter dance with their incarcerated fathers.

After acknowledging the need for nuanced storytelling for young Black girls and women, Patton thanked Netflix for their inclusionary acquisition of the documentary. “We know too many Black girls’ stories are untold. We dedicate this award to Raziah [Lewis], Aubrey [Smith], Santana [Stewart] and Ja’Ana [Crudup]. And to every Black woman and girl who has felt that they’ve been misunderstood, unheard and not celebrated, because now that I have your attention, more to come.” 

Ray Fisher, presented with the Breakout Performance Award for his work as Lymon in Netflix’s The Piano Lesson, expressed heartfelt thanks to his family, friends and fans that helped keep him grounded as he navigated a difficult period in his career. During his speech, he subtly referenced the fallout that resulted after the actor called out filmmaker Joss Whedon and former DC Films executive Walter Hamada for “abusive” and “unprofessional” behaviors while working on The Justice League. 

“This business is not easy. And oftentimes, it can be quite unkind. My journey in it has been auspicious, to say the least,” Fisher said. “And I want to thank everyone who has supported me over the years. You have helped carry me in ways that I cannot describe, and in ways that I can never pay you back for … to quote Lymon Jackson from The Piano Lesson, ‘That water was heavy.’ The water that I carry and have carried has been heavy, but I’m glad I have you all to carry it with me.” 

Other honorees recognized included Fisher’s Piano Lesson colleagues Malcolm Washington for Emerging Director and Danielle Deadwyler for Best Supporting Actress. In addition, RaMell Ross was honored with the Spotlight Award and Best Picture for Nickel Boys; Kris Bowers for Best Score for The Wild Robot; producer Nicole Avant; Wicked costume designer Paul Tazewell; and Marianne Jean-Baptiste who won Best Actress for Hard Truths.

Here is the AAFCA winners list and its Top 10 Films chart:

Best Picture
Nickel Boys

Best Actor
Colman Domingo, Sing Sing

Best Actress
Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths

Best Supporting Actor
Clarence Maclin, Sing Sing

Best Supporting Actress
Danielle Deadwyler, The Piano Lesson

Best Ensemble
The Piano Lesson

Best Original Score
The Wild Robot 

Music by: Kris Bowers

Best Original Song
“Bricks”, Exhibiting Forgiveness

Music & lyrics by Andra Day, Cassandra Batie and Jherek Bischoff

Best Director
RaMell Ross, Nickel Boys

Best Documentary
(tie)
Daughters
Dahomey

Best Animated Feature
The Wild Robot

Best International Film
Emilia Pérez

Best Independent Feature
She Taught Love

TOP 10 FILMS OF THE YEAR1. Nickel Boys
2. Sing Sing
3. The Piano Lesson
4. Gladiator II
5. Wicked
6. Emilia Pérez
7. Albany Road
8. The Fire Inside
9. Exhibiting Forgiveness
10. Dahomey