The 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. Depending on the number of films that qualify, as few as one film has been nominated for this award before but as many as fourteen have been nominated in years past.

The film that first won this award was Matewan in 1987 that was directed by John Sayles. 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 films before it nominates them for an award.

1980s

• 1987 Matewan
  • Project X
• 1988 Cry Freedom
  • The Accused
  • A World Apart
• 1989 Mississippi Burning
  • A Dry White Season
  • Listen to Me
  • Talk Radio

1990s

• 1990 Driving Miss Daisy
  • Glory
  • Longtime Companion
  • Quigley Down Under
  • Romero
• 1991 Boyz n the Hood
  • Come See the Paradise
  • Guilty by Suspicion
  • Jungle Fever
  • The Long Walk Home
• 1992 The Power of One
  • Europa, Europa
  • Sarafina!
  • School Ties
  • Thunderheart
• 1993 Schindler's List
  • Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
  • Geronimo: An American Legend
  • In the Name of the Father
  • Indochine
  • Orlando
  • Philadelphia
• 1994 Go Fish
  • On Deadly Ground
• 1995 Murder in the First
  • Beyond Rangoon
  • Picture Bride
  • The Scarlet Letter
• 1996 Ghosts of Mississippi
  • The Crucible
  • Dead Man Walking
  • Get on the Bus
  • The People Vs. Larry Flynt
• 1997 Rosewood
  • L.A. Confidential
  • Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
  • Seven Years in Tibet
• 1998 A Civil Action
  • Enemy of the State
  • The Siege
  • Wilde
• 1999 The Green Mile
  • Boys Don't Cry
  • The General's Daughter
  • Hard
  • Naturally Native
  • One Man's Hero
  • Three Kings
  • Xiu Xiu

2000s

• 2000 Remember the Titans
  • Before Night Falls
  • But I'm a Cheerleader
  • The Contender
  • Erin Brockovich
  • The Hurricane
  • It All Starts Today
  • Sunshine
  • X-Men
• 2001 Focus
  • Atlantis: The Lost Empire
  • Born Under Libra
  • Bread and Roses
  • The Closet
  • Greenfingers
  • The Hidden Half
  • The Iron Ladies
  • Journey to the Sun
  • Lumumba
• 2002 Ararat
  • Das Experiment
  • Evelyn
  • The Grey Zone
  • John Q
  • Rabbit-Proof Fence
  • To End All Wars
  • Tricky Life
• 2003 The Magdalene Sisters
  • Amen.
  • Beyond Borders
  • The Dancer Upstairs
  • Dirty Pretty Things
  • The Life of David Gale
  • Lilja 4-Ever
  • Sandstorm
  • The Statement
  • X2: X-Men United
• 2004 Hotel Rwanda
  • Carandiru
  • The Gatekeeper
  • Imagining Argentina
  • Moolaadé
  • The Motorcycle Diaries
  • Osama
  • The Sea Inside
  • Two Brothers (2004 film)
  • Vera Drake
  • The Yes Men
• 2005 North Country
  • Caché
  • The Constant Gardener
  • God's Sandbox
  • The Great Raid
  • The Great Water
  • In My Country
  • Innocent Voices
  • Machuca
  • The Ninth Day
  • The War Within
• 2006 The Last King of Scotland
  • Babel
  • Blood Diamond
  • Cautiva
  • Glory Road
  • The Road to Guantanamo
  • Sophie Scholl – The Final Days
• 2007 Amazing Grace
  • Bamako
  • Beyond the Gates
  • Charlie Wilson's War
  • Holly
  • The Hunting Party
  • In the Valley of Elah
  • Persepolis
  • Rendition
  • September Dawn
  • Southland Tales
  • Offside
• 2008 Milk
  • Battle in Seattle
  • The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
  • Changeling
  • Hunger
  • Miracle at St. Anna
• 2009 District 9
  • American Violet
  • Avatar
  • The Cove
  • Fifty Dead Men Walking
  • Invictus
  • Punctured Hope
  • Skin
  • The Stoning of Soraya M.
  • Storm
  • The Yes Men Fix the World

2010s

• 2010 My Name Is Khan
  • Blood Done Sign My Name
  • Eichmann
  • Formosa Betrayed
  • The Ghost Writer
  • Green Zone
  • John Rabe
  • Made in Dagenham
  • Princess Ka'iulani
  • Shake Hands with the Devil
• 2011 The Help
  • 5 Days of War
  • Amigo
  • City of Life and Death
  • The Conspirator
  • The Devil's Double
  • Elite Squad: The Enemy Within
  • The Flowers of War
  • In Darkness
  • Kinyarwanda
  • The Lady
  • Machine Gun Preacher
  • Oka!
  • Oranges and Sunshine
  • The Whistleblower
• 2012 West of Thunder
  • For Greater Glory
  • Mulberry Child
  • Red Tails
  • A Royal Affair
• 2013 Zaytoun
  • 12 Years a Slave
  • 42
  • The Butler
  • A Dark Truth
  • Out in the Dark
  • A River Changes Course
  • Wadjda
• 2014 César Chávez
  • Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain
  • Camp X-Ray
  • Coldwater
  • Devil's Knot
  • Difret
  • Free the Nipple
  • Giovanni's Island
  • The Imitation Game
  • The Monuments Men
  • Omar
  • Pride
  • The Railway Man
  • Rosewater
  • Siddhart
  • Unbroken
  • Walking with the Enemy
• 2015 Suffragette
  • Dukhtar
  • Freeheld
  • Labyrinth of Lies
  • Mustang
  • Noble
  • Son of Saul
  • Spotlight
  • The Danish Girl
  • The Stanford Prison Experiment
  • Stonewall
  • Straight Outta Compton
  • The 33
  • Timbuktu
  • Trumbo
  • Woman in Gold
• 2016 Loving
  • The Birth of a Nation
  • The Innocents
  • Race
  • Silence
• 2017 Marshall
  • 13 Minutes
  • Alone in Berlin
  • Battle of the Sexes
  • Bitter Harvest
  • Brimstone
  • Detroit
  • The Divine House
  • In Dubious Battle
  • LBJ
  • The Post
  • The Promise
  • Trafficked
  • A United Kingdom
  • The Zookeeper's Wife
• 2018 BlacKkKlansman
  • Boy Erased
  • 55 Steps
  • Freak Show
  • On the Basis of Sex
  • Sweet Country
• 2019
  • Ashes in the Snow
  • At War
  • Brian Banks
  • Capernaum
  • Clemency
  • Dark Waters
  • Go for Broke
  • Harriet
  • I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians
  • The Invisibles
  • Just Mercy
  • The Report
  • Richard Jewell
  • Seberg
  • Skin
  • Saint Judy

2020s

• 2020
  • The Banker
  • Burden
  • Sorry We Missed You
• 2021 Held for Ransom
  • American Traitor
  • Betrayed
  • Blue Bayou
  • Flee
  • Hive
  • The Last Forest
  • The Trial of the Chicago 7
  • Wife of a Spy
• 2022 Till
  • Argentina, 1985
  • Donbass
  • Emancipation
  • Holy Spider
  • Lingui, the Sacred Bond
  • Pursuit of Freedom
  • She Said
  • Unsilenced
• 2023 Killers of the Flower Moon
  • Aurora's Sunrise
  • Chevalier
  • La Cyndicaliste
  • Miranda's Victim
  • On Sacred Ground
  • Rustin
  • Sweetwater
  • The Wind and the Reckoning
  • Women Talking

Sources

• Political Film Society Previous Award Winners Archived 2012-05-27 at the Wayback Machine

See also

• Political Film Society Award for Democracy
• Political Film Society Award for Exposé
• Political Film Society Award for Peace