The American Film Institute in Los Angeles, California, in 2008 honored America’s 10 greatest films in 10 classic film genres. The jury was asked to choose up to 10 movies per genre from a comprehensive list.

To compile the final list, AFI distributed a ballot with 500 Nominated Films (50 per genre) to a jury of over 1,500 leaders from the creative community, including film artists (directors, screenwriters, actors, editors, cinematographers), critics and historians.

AFI asked jurors to consider the following criteria in their selection process:

• Feature-length: Narrative format typically over 60 minutes in length.
  
• American film: English-language film with significant creative and/or production elements from the United States. Additionally, only films released before January 1, 2008 were considered.
  
• Critical Recognition: Formal commendation in print, television, and digital media.
  
• Major Award Winner: Recognition from competitive events including awards from peer groups, critics, guilds and major film festivals.
  
• Popularity Over Time: This includes success at the box office, television and cable airings, and DVD/VHS sales and rentals.
  
• Historical Significance: A film's mark on the history of the moving image through visionary narrative devices, technical innovation or other groundbreaking achievements.
  
• Cultural Impact: A film's mark on American society in matters of style and substance.

Facts about Genres and Ballot:

• The ballot included entries that spanned from 1915's The Birth of a Nation (Epic), to a number of 2006 films, including Cars (2006) (Animation), Children of Men (2006) (Sci-fi), The Departed (2006) (Gangster), Happy Feet (2006) (Animation) and Letters From Iwo Jima (2006) (Epic).
  
• The films that were represented in more than one category included: Adam's Rib (1949) (Romantic Comedy/Courtroom Drama), The Big Heat (1953) (Gangster/Mystery), Bull Durham (1988) (Sports/Romantic Comedy), Dances With Wolves (1990) (Western/Epic), Field of Dreams (1989) (Sports/Romantic Comedy), The Godfather, Part 2 (1974) (Gangster/Epic), How the West Was Won (1962) (Western/Epic), and Jerry Maguire (1996) (Sports/Romantic Comedy).

Comments Regarding the Ballot:

• Four major genres that weren't part of the compilations but should have been: action films, horror films, musicals, and war films.
  
• A few of the genres that were included were basically sub-genres: Romantic Comedy (a sub-genre of comedy films) and Courtroom Drama (a sub-genre of drama films). Animation is not a film genre.