'Black Panther' Wins 'Best Film' at African American Film Critics Association Awards

Awards season is underway, and things are already beginning to look up for Black Panther.

The record-shattering film picked up three awards at the African American Film Critics Association Awards (AAFCA)—the largest association of professional black film critics.

It wins include Best Film, Best Director for Ryan Coogler and Best Song for Kendrick Lamar and SZA's "All the Stars," from the Black Panther soundtrack which recently earned a whopping seven Grammy nominations.

Black Panther will have an eventful awards season, as it's already become the first superhero film to be nominated for a "Best Drama" award at this year's Golden Globes. It also earned nods for Best Original Song and Best Original Score.

Black Panther star Lupita Nyong'o took to Twitter to celebrate the film's win.

In a statement, AAFCA co-founder Shawn Edwards said the decision to name Black Panther 'Best Film,' was an obvious one:

Selecting Disney's Black Panther as the year's best film was a no-brainer. Beyond its tremendous reviews and historic box office performance, the film changed the culture and became a defining moment for Black America. Finally, after years of painfully negative and blatantly harmful depictions of blacks on screen there was a movie full of positive images and characters that blacks could rally around. For many blacks the film's release was like a national holiday. "The movie sparked a sense of pride and inspired Afro-futurism-theme parties, academic panel discussions, scholarship funds, vacation plans to Africa and thousands of black kids dressing-up like their favorite characters on Halloween. Many have waited a lifetime for a moment like this and Black Panther delivered with a multi-generational appeal never before seen.

Other big wins included BlacKkKlansman, which for 'Best Screenplay' and 'Best Actor' for John David Washington. Regina Hall was named Best Actress for her role in Support the Girls, while Regina King won Best Supporting Actress for her role in Berry Jenkin's If Beale Street Could Talk.

Check out the full list of winners, as well as the AAFCA's list of top 10 films of the year below.

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Best Film: Black Panther
Best Director: Ryan Coogler (Black Panther)
Best Screenplay: Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman)
Best Actor: John David Washington (BlacKkKlansman)
Best Actress: Regina Hall (Support the Girls)
Best Supporting Actor: Russell Hornsby (The Hate U Give)
Best Supporting Actress: Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk)
Best Breakout Performance: Amandla Stenberg (The Hate U Give)
Best Animated Film: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Best Independent Film: If Beale Street Could Talk
Best Foreign Film: Roma
Best Documentary: Quincy
Best Song: "All The Stars" (Black Panther)
Best New Media: Red Table Talk
Best TV Drama: Queen Sugar
Best TV Comedy: Insecure

AAFCA's Top Ten List:

Black Panther (Walt Disney Studios)
If Beale Street Could Talk (Annapurna Pictures)
The Hate U Give (20th Century Fox)
A Star is Born (Warner Bros. Studios)
Quincy (Netflix)
Roma (Netflix)
Blindspotting (Lionsgate)
The Favourite (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Sorry to Bother You (Annapurna Pictures)
Widows (20th Century Fox)