The prestigious American Film Institute is expected to announce today (Tuesday) that it will release an annual list of the 10 best films of the year, to be selected by an anonymous ("to prevent lobbying," according to AFI executives) 13-member panel of filmmakers, critics, scholars and AFI directors, published reports said today.

The first "AFI 2000" list is due to be announced on Jan. 9, the newspaper said. The institute also plans to announce an annual list of up to five "AFI moments of significance," spotlighting important events impacting the movie industry during the previous year. In reporting on the AFI program, today's Los Angeles Times commented that the top-ten list "is certain to draw worldwide attention and plunge the venerable nonprofit organization into the superheated media frenzy leading up to the Academy Awards."

But Jean Picker Firstenberg, the institute's director, told the New York Times that she hoped that rather than simply adding to the annual awards clutter, the list would refocus attention on what was enduring in film.

Source: Studio Briefing