Political Film Society Award for Democracy
Encyclopedia
The Political Film Society Award
for democracy
is given out each year to a film that promotes, educates, and raises the awareness level of the public in the specific areas of democracy and freedom. This award has been handed out by the Society since 1988. Depending on the number of movies that qualify, as few as one films has been nominated for this award before but as many as seven have been nominated in years past.
The film that first won this award was The Milagro Beanfield War
in 1988 that was directed by Robert Redford
. The only other award nominated in 1988 against The Milagro Beanfield War was Stand and Deliver
. The award, as with any other Political Film Society Award, can go to a mainstream film, independent film, or even an international film. The Political Film Society looks at a broad selection of movies before it nominates them for an award.
Political Film Society Awards
The Political Film Society Awards are handed out each year by the Political Film Society. Each year, films that best promote political consciousness are selected in four categories; democracy, exposé, human rights, and peace. In addition, the Society can give special awards...
for democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
is given out each year to a film that promotes, educates, and raises the awareness level of the public in the specific areas of democracy and freedom. This award has been handed out by the Society since 1988. Depending on the number of movies that qualify, as few as one films has been nominated for this award before but as many as seven have been nominated in years past.
The film that first won this award was The Milagro Beanfield War
The Milagro Beanfield War
The Milagro Beanfield War is a 1988 American drama film based on the John Nichols novel of the same name, the first book in a trilogy. It was directed by Robert Redford and the screenplay was written by Nichols and David S. Ward...
in 1988 that was directed by Robert Redford
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...
. The only other award nominated in 1988 against The Milagro Beanfield War was Stand and Deliver
Stand and Deliver
Stand and Deliver is a 1988 American drama film, based on the true story of high school mathematics teacher Jaime Escalante. Edward James Olmos portrayed Escalante in the film and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.-Plot:...
. The award, as with any other Political Film Society Award, can go to a mainstream film, independent film, or even an international film. The Political Film Society looks at a broad selection of movies before it nominates them for an award.
1980s
- 1988 The Milagro Beanfield WarThe Milagro Beanfield WarThe Milagro Beanfield War is a 1988 American drama film based on the John Nichols novel of the same name, the first book in a trilogy. It was directed by Robert Redford and the screenplay was written by Nichols and David S. Ward...
- Stand and DeliverStand and DeliverStand and Deliver is a 1988 American drama film, based on the true story of high school mathematics teacher Jaime Escalante. Edward James Olmos portrayed Escalante in the film and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.-Plot:...
- Stand and Deliver
- 1989 Dead Poets SocietyDead Poets SocietyDead Poets Society is a 1989 American drama film directed by Peter Weir and starring Robin Williams. Set at the conservative and aristocratic Welton Academy in Vermont in 1959, it tells the story of an English teacher who inspires his students through his teaching of poetry.The script was written...
1990s
- 1990 Born on the Fourth of JulyBorn on the Fourth of July (film)Born on the Fourth of July is a 1989 American film adaptation of the best selling autobiography of the same name by Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic. Tom Cruise plays Kovic, in a performance that earned him his first Academy Award nomination. Oliver Stone co-wrote the screenplay with Kovic, and also...
- 1991 City of HopeCity of Hope (film)City of Hope is an American drama film written and directed by John Sayles.The film features Vincent Spano, Stephen Mendillo and Chris Cooper....
- JFKJFK (film)JFK is a 1991 American film directed by Oliver Stone. It examines the events leading to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and alleged subsequent cover-up, through the eyes of former New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison .Garrison filed charges against New Orleans businessman Clay...
- JFK
- 1992 Bob RobertsBob RobertsBob Roberts is a 1992 film written and directed by Tim Robbins. It is a satirical mockumentary, chronicling the rise of Bob Roberts, a conservative politician who is a candidate for an upcoming United States Senate election...
- City of JoyCity of JoyCity of Joy is a novel written by Dominique Lapierre and a 1992 film directed by Roland Joffé.-Plot:The story revolves around the trials and tribulations of a young Polish priest, Stephan Kovalski, the hardships endured by a rickshaw puller, Hasari Pal in Calcutta , India and the experiences of...
- Howards EndHowards End (film)Howards End is a 1992 film based upon the novel of the same title by E. M. Forster , a story of class relations in turn-of-the-20th-century England...
- The Power of OneThe Power of OneThe Power of One is a novel by Bryce Courtenay, first published in 1989. Set in South Africa during the 1930s and 1940s, it tells the story of an Anglo-African boy who, through the course of the story, acquires the nickname of Peekay. The Power of One is a novel by Bryce Courtenay, first published...
- City of Joy
- 1993 IndochineIndochine (film)Indochine is a 1992 French film set in colonial French Indochina during the 1930s. It is the story of Éliane Devries, a French plantation owner, and of her adopted Vietnamese daughter, Camille, with the rising Vietnamese nationalist movement set as a backdrop...
- DaveDave (film)Dave is a 1993 comedy-drama film written by Gary Ross, directed by Ivan Reitman, and starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver. Co-stars include Frank Langella, Kevin Dunn, Ving Rhames, and Ben Kingsley. Ross was nominated for an Academy Award for his screenplay...
- The Secret GardenThe Secret Garden (1993 film)The Secret Garden is a 1993 British drama film based on Frances Hodgson Burnett's 1911 novel of the same name. The film was directed by Agnieszka Holland.-Plot:...
- The PianoThe PianoThe Piano is a 1993 New Zealand drama film about a mute pianist and her daughter, set during the mid-19th century in a rainy, muddy frontier backwater on the west coast of New Zealand. The film was written and directed by Jane Campion, and stars Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill, and Anna Paquin...
- Dave
- 1994 Rapa NuiRapa Nui (film)Rapa Nui is a 1994 film directed by Kevin Reynolds. It was produced by Kevin Costner and Barrie M. Osborne, among others. The plot is based on Rapanui legends of Easter Island, Chile, in particular the race for the Sooty Tern's egg in the Birdman Cult....
- 1995 Beyond RangoonBeyond RangoonBeyond Rangoon is a 1995 drama film directed by John Boorman about Laura Bowman , an American tourist who vacations in Burma in 1988, the year in which the 8888 Uprising takes place...
- 1996 No films nominated
- 1997 Red CornerRed CornerRed Corner is a drama film produced in 1997, directed by Jon Avnet and written by Robert King.- Plot :It tells the story of a wealthy American businessman named Jack Moore working in China and attempting to put together a satellite communications deal as part of a joint venture with the Chinese...
- RainmakerThe Rainmaker (1997 film)The Rainmaker is a 1997 American drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Matt Damon. Coppola wrote the script, based on the 1995 novel of the same name by John Grisham....
- Rainmaker
- 1998 Four Days in SeptemberFour Days in SeptemberFour Days in September is a 1997 Brazilian thriller film directed by Bruno Barreto and produced by his parents Lucy and Luiz Carlos Barreto. The film is based on the 1979 memoir "O Que É Isso Companheiro?" written by politician Fernando Gabeira...
- Primary Colors
- Enemy of the State
- The SiegeThe SiegeThe Siege is a 1998 American thriller film directed by Edward Zwick. The film is about a fictional situation in which terrorist cells have made several attacks on New York City...
- Wag the DogWag the DogWag the Dog is a 1997 black comedy film starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro, co-starring Anne Heche, Denis Leary and William H. Macy about a Washington spin doctor who, merely days before a presidential election, distracts the electorate from a sex scandal by hiring a Hollywood film producer...
- 1999 The InsiderThe Insider (film)The Insider is a 1999 film based on the true story of a 60 Minutes television series segment, as seen through the eyes of a real tobacco executive, Jeffrey Wigand. The 60 Minutes story originally aired in November 1995 in an altered form because of objections by CBS’ then-owner, Laurence Tisch, who...
- East of Hope StreetEast of Hope StreetEast of Hope Street is a 1998 film drama directed by Nate Thomas. It was executive produced by Tim Russ , who also stars in the film...
- Naturally Native
- Three Kings
- Fight ClubFight Club (film)Fight Club is a 1999 American film based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. The film was directed by David Fincher and stars Edward Norton, Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter. Norton plays the unnamed protagonist, an "everyman" who is discontented with his white-collar job...
- East of Hope Street
2000s
- 2000 SunshineSunshine (1999 film)Sunshine is a 1999 historical film written by Israel Horovitz and István Szabó, directed and produced by István Szabó. It follows three generations of a Jewish family during the changes in Hungary from the beginning of the 20th century to the...
- Human Resources
- The Hurricane
- It All Starts Today
- Steal This Movie!Steal This Movie!Steal This Movie is a 2000 American biographical film of 1960s radical figure Abbie Hoffman. It was directed by Robert Greenwald and the screenplay was written by Bruce Graham...
- 2001 The Majestic
- AntitrustAntitrust (film)Antitrust is a 2001 thriller film written by Howard Franklin and directed by Peter Howitt....
- Atlantis: The Lost EmpireAtlantis: The Lost EmpireAtlantis: The Lost Empire is a 2001 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation. Written by Tab Murphy, directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, and produced by Don Hahn, it is the first science fiction film in the Disney animated features canon and the 41st overall. The film...
- Bread and RosesBread and Roses (film)Bread and Roses is a 2000 drama film directed by Ken Loach, starring Adrien Brody. The plot deals with the struggle of poorly paid janitorial workers in Los Angeles and their fight for better working conditions and the right to unionize...
- LumumbaLumumba (film)Lumumba is a 2000 film directed by Raoul Peck centred around Patrice Lumumba in the months before and after the Democratic Republic of the Congo achieved independence from Belgium in June 1960. Raoul Peck's film is a coproduction of France, Belgium, Germany, and Haiti...
- Antitrust
- 2002 Y Tu Mamá TambiénY tu mamá tambiénY tu mamá también is a 2001 Mexican comedy-drama film directed by Alfonso Cuarón, and co-written by Cuarón and his brother Carlos. The film is a coming-of-age story about two teenage boys taking a road trip with a woman in her late twenties; it stars Mexican actors Diego Luna and Gael García...
- Das ExperimentDas ExperimentDas Experiment is a 2001 German film directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, about a social experiment, based on Mario Giordano's novel Black Box, which resembles Philip Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment of 1971.-Plot:...
- John QJohn QJohn Q is a 2002 film directed by Nick Cassavetes starring Denzel Washington as John Quincy Archibald, a father and husband whose son is diagnosed with an enlarged heart and then finds out he cannot receive a transplant because HMO insurance will not cover it...
- MaxMax (film)Max is a 2002 British/Hungarian/Canadian fictional drama film, that depicts a friendship between a Jewish art dealer, Max Rothman, and a young Austrian painter, Adolf Hitler...
- Secret BallotSecret Ballot (film)Secret Ballot is an Iranian film from 2001. It was directed by Babak Payami. The film covers a day in the life of a female voting agent collecting votes on an island in Iran.-Plot summary:...
- The Town is Quiet
- 24 Hour Party People24 Hour Party People24 Hour Party People is a 2002 British film about Manchester's popular music community from 1976 to 1992, and specifically about Factory Records. It was written by Frank Cottrell Boyce and directed by Michael Winterbottom...
- Das Experiment
- 2003 Shattered Glass
- Herod's Law
- Runaway JuryRunaway JuryRunaway Jury is a 2003 American drama/thriller film directed by Gary Fleder and starring John Cusack, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, and Rachel Weisz...
- SandstormSandstorm (film)Sandstorm is a 1982 Algerian drama film directed by Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina. It was entered into the 1982 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Nadir Benguedih* Himmoud Brahimi* Hadja* Sabrina Hannach* Merwan Lakhdar-Hamina* M. Mahboub* Albert Minski...
- Veronica GuerinVeronica Guerin (film)Veronica Guerin is a 2003 Irish biographical film directed by Joel Schumacher. The screenplay by Carol Doyle and Mary Agnes Donoghue focuses on Irish journalist Veronica Guerin, whose investigation into the drug trade in Dublin led to her murder in 1996....
- 2004 Silver City
- The Assassination of Richard NixonThe Assassination of Richard NixonThe Assassination of Richard Nixon is a 2004 American film, directed by Niels Mueller. It stars Sean Penn, Don Cheadle and Naomi Watts, and is based on the story of would-be assassin Samuel Byck, who plotted to kill Richard Nixon in 1974. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2004...
- MoolaadéMoolaadéMoolaadé is a 2004 film by the Senegalese writer and director Ousmane Sembène. It addresses the subject of female genital mutilation, a common practice in a number of African countries, especially those immediately south of the Sahara Desert...
- The Motorcycle DiariesThe Motorcycle Diaries (film)At the end of the film, after his sojourn at the leper colony, Guevara confirms his nascent egalitarian, anti-authority impulses, while making a birthday toast, which is also his first political speech. In it he evokes a pan-Latin American identity that transcends both the arbitrary boundaries of...
- The Assassination of Richard Nixon
- 2005 MachucaMachucaMachuca is a 2004 Chilean film written and directed by Andrés Wood. Set in 1973 Santiago during Salvador Allende's socialist government and shortly before General Augusto Pinochet's military coup in 1973, the film tells the story of two friends, one of them the very poor Pedro Machuca who is...
- DownfallDownfall (film)Downfall is a 2004 German/Italian/Austrian epic war film directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, depicting the final ten days of Adolf Hitler's life in his Berlin bunker and Nazi Germany in 1945....
- Downfall
- 2006 Sophie Scholl – The Final DaysSophie Scholl – The Final DaysSophie Scholl – The Final Days is a 2005 German film by director Marc Rothemund and writer Fred Breinersdorfer. It is about the last days in the life of Sophie Scholl, a 21-year-old member of the anti-Nazi non-violent student resistance group the White Rose, part of the German Resistance movement...
- Cautiva
- The Listening
- Man of the YearMan of the Year (2006 film)Man of the Year is a 2006 Comedy film directed and written by Barry Levinson and starring Robin Williams in the lead role. In addition to Williams, the film features Christopher Walken, Laura Linney, Lewis Black and Jeff Goldblum....
- The QueenThe Queen (film)The Queen is a 2006 British drama film directed by Stephen Frears, written by Peter Morgan, and starring Helen Mirren as the title role, HM Queen Elizabeth II...
Source
See also
- Political Film Society Award for ExposéPolitical Film Society Award for ExposéThe Political Film Society Award for exposé is given out each year to a film that has an investigative depth into a subject matter and often exposes surprising information on the subject. This award has been handed out by the Society since 1988...
- Political Film Society Award for Human RightsPolitical Film Society Award for Human RightsThe Political Film Society Award for human rights is given out each year to a film that deals with struggle for human rights in both fictional and non-fictional stories. This award has been handed out by the Society since 1987...
- Political Film Society Award for PeacePolitical Film Society Award for PeaceThe Political Film Society Award for peace is given out each year to a film that deals with the struggle for peace in both fictional and non-fictional stories. This award has been handed out by the Society since 1987...