AFI Awards honor LA firefighter, films from 'Brutalist' to 'Wicked'

LOS ANGELES — The American Film Institute honored the 10 best films and 11 best TV shows of 2024 at the AFI Awards on Thursday.

But the biggest applause of the star-studded event — rescheduled from Jan. 10 due to the disastrous Los Angeles wildfires — was for a firefighter.

The A-list crowd in the Los Angeles Four Seasons hotel ballroom gave a sustained standing ovation for Tim Larson, a Los Angeles firefighter stationed in fire-ravaged Pacific Palisades.

"No words can wipe the tears from this town," AFI President and CEO Bob Gazzale said during opening remarks before introducing the uniformed Larson.

Gazzale urged the annual gathering of the year's best TV and filmmakers to continue entertaining "because we need that now more than ever."

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The audience included stars from Oscar contending movies "Wicked," "A Complete Unknown," "The Brutalist," "Sing Sing," "Conclave," "A Real Pain" and "Emilia Pérez." Among them were Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Edward Norton, Boyd Holbrook, Adrien Brody, Colman Domingo, Ralph Fiennes, Jesse Eisenberg, Adriana Paz and Zoe Saldaña.

Stars from the honored TV shows included Kristen Bell, Adam Brody ("Nobody Wants This"), Colin Farrell, Cristin Milioti ("The Penguin"), Mark Indelicato ("Hacks"), Jodie Foster, Kali Reis ("True Detective: Night Country"), Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri ("The Bear") and Hiroyuki Sanada ("Shogun").

Directors included Sean Baker ("Anora"), Denis Villeneuve ("Dune: Part Two"), RaMell Ross ("Nickel Boys"), and Edward Berger ("Conclave").

Harrison Ford, who received an AFI Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000, earned an early standing ovation following Larson. Ford attended on behalf of the AppleTV+ comedy "Shrinking," with co-stars Jason Segel and Jessica Williams leading the applause.

Oscar-nominated "Emilia Pérez" star Karla Sofía Gascón, who is embroiled in a PR crisis over past social media posts, did not attend the event. However, Gascón received praise during the "Emilia Pérez" best picture testimonial, which stated that the "provocative thriller" featured "powder keg performances from Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón and Selena Gomez — a true triple threat of today’s top talent."

The ceremony opened and closed with tributes to David Lynch, who died last month at age 78. The celebration began with a video of the "Twin Peaks" director talking about his love of the AFI. The video ended with a title card stating, “We love you too, David. And always will.”

AFI Founding Director George Stevens Jr. closed the event with a benediction praising Lynch "and the mystical beauty we found in living his dreams."

"We leave this ceremony with David in our hearts," said Stevens Jr. "Let us dedicate ourselves to restoring our devastated movie capital."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: AFI Awards: Stars from 'Wicked' to 'Brutalist' and firefighter honored