Some of the best movies of all time are political films – “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”, “All the President’s Men”, “Dr. Strangelove” – to name just a few.

The industry is in the midst of its annual awards season, and as it happens, many of the nominees and winners have been political – “The Hurt Locker” (Producer of the Year Winner, Producers Guild of America), “Inglorious Basterds” (Best Ensemble Cast Winner, Screen Actors Guild), Morgan Freeman (Golden Globe Nominee for  Best Actor, “Invictus”) and “District 9” (Golden Globe Nominee for Best Original Screenplay).

Politics on Film is launching our own survey to highlight political movies, asking movie fans to weigh in on what the best political movie of the previous year was. This is a non-scientific survey, intended simply to create a record of some audience members’ views on political films and what they offered to the culture or dialogue.

The notion of doing this annual survey came about for a number of reasons. One, I was reading a book, “Politics and Film”, by Georgia State University political science professor Daniel P. Franklin, which in part examines the question of whether movies reflect the current culture, or if the current culture is influenced by what people watch in the movies.

To the extent one adds the notion of “political films” to that question, you get an interesting idea about how political films fit in a given year with what’s actually happening in the world. Did political films in 2009 change cultural perception? Or did they more accurately reflect the culture at the time they were being made?

Since the main goal of Politics on Film is to unite different political viewpoints around the shared experience of a movie, what better way to extend that dialogue beyond a single annual event and look at political films throughout the year?

We have a number of guests lined up to comment about some of the films of 2009 and why they were relevant. Of course one of the most interesting and consistent questions that arises with the concept of “political film” is how to define what that means. And from an initial list of movies like “Inglorious Basterds” and “Invictus”, some of our guests are introducing discussion about less overtly political movies like “Avatar” and “Up in the Air”.

Speaking of “Avatar”, The New York Times last week featured a page-one story about the reactions people are having to the metaphors and messages they believe are playing out onscreen. The fact this story appeared perhaps answers the question posed by Professor Franklin: film both impacts AND reflects our views – both as individuals and as a society.

We encourage you to take a few minutes before February 1 and respond to the very short survey.

Politics on Film is featured in the January issue of DC Magazine in its Best of the City 2010 section. Check out the write-up, and other neat things to love about Washington, DC at the magazine’s web site.

Politics on Film’s 2009 Audience Award Winner, The Response, is on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science’s short list for Best Live-Action Short.

The Response, which opened the 2009 festival at a sold-out screening at the E Street Theater, was produced by Maryland native Sig Libowitz and stars Kate Mulgrew, Peter Reigert and Aasif Mandvi. Politics on Film was thrilled to welcome the entire cast to the inaugural festival, where they participated in a discussion with audience members following the screening.

Academy voting will take place throughout January, and the five nominees will be announced February 2.

The Response joins nine other semi-finalists from around the world. Read the Academy press release here: http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2009/20091204.html

As film festivals go, it is hard to argue with the fact that Sundance is among the most prestigious and influential. So it’s worth checking out what films with a political bent they have selected for screening in January 2010.

This year’s line-up includes several entries Washington is already buzzing about, including “Casino Jack and the United States of Money” – not the Kevin Spacey feature vehicle also titled “Casino Jack”, but a documentary about the notorious influence peddler. Participant is distributing the film and already has a corresponding campaign web site urging citizens to be more informed by reading other web sites like The Center for Responsive Politics and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Also scheduled is “I am Pat ____ Tillman”, the story of the pro football star who traded in his NFL career for service in the military. Another doc tackling the topic of war is “Restrepo”, directed by best-selling author Sebastian Junger (A Perfect Storm) and Tim Hetherington. The pair spent a year with the Second Platoon in Afghanistan.

Others in the documentary category include “12^th and Delaware”, focusing on abortion, and “Waiting for Superman”, examining public education in the United States, and “Freedom Riders”, the story behind a group of civil rights activists’ 1961 challenge of segregation in the South.

Docs looking at politics outside the United States include “Bhutto”, a biographic film of the life of recently assassinated Benazir Bhutto; “The Oath”, filmed in Yemen about two men’s journey through Afghanistan, 9/11, Guantanamo and the U.S. Supreme Court; and “My Perestroika”, about post-Soviet life in Russia.

The Narrative feature category also includes “The Dry Land”, about a U.S. soldier’s return home to Texas, and starring America Ferrera and Wilmer Valderrama; and “Night Catches Us”, about a man returning to his race-torn Philadelphia neighborhood in 1978.