Rule
1. Abbreviations
a.
The term "Society" in these By-Laws refers to "Political Film
Society."
b.
The term "Board" in these By-Laws refers to "Board of Directors
of the Political Film Society."
c. The term "feature-length motion picture" is a film
over thirty minutes in running time.
d. The term "raising political consciousness" is defined
as a successful effort to identify how individuals and groups
vary in regard to levels of influence and power and thus receive
greater or fewer public rewards, especially prevail in conflict
situations.
Rule
2. Purposes
a. The main purpose of the Political Film Society is
to raise the political consciousness of the filmviewing public.
b. The Society seeks to raise the political consciousness
of the filmviewing public by giving annual awards to outstanding
achievements of film directors, by providing publications
on the politics of film, and by assisting individuals who
seek to promote political consciousness raising through film.
c. The Political Film Society is a non-profit organization
that takes no stands on political issues, endorses no candidates,
engages in no lobbying of government officeholders, and otherwise
operates as a tax-exempt organization within the meaning of
Internal Revenue Service regulations.
Rule
3. The Awards Year
a. Political Film Society awards of merit shall be
bestowed for achievements in connection with feature-length
motion pictures first publicly exhibited for paid admission
(previews excluded) in a commercial motion picture theater
in the County of Los Angeles between January 1 and December
31 of each calendar year, such exhibition being for a consecutive
run of not less than three days after an opening prior to
midnight of December 31st, following normal exploitation and
advertising utilized by the producer for the motion picture
within the dates specified.
b. Pictures publicly exhibited elsewhere prior to their
exhibition in the County of Los Angeles shall not be eligible
unless such exhibition has occurred after January 1 in a given
year in a commercial motion picture theater (film festivals
excluded).
c. Exceptions to Rules 3a and 3b appear in Special
Rules for Film Festivals (see Rule 5) and Honorific Awards
(see Rule 6).
d. Television exhibition does not disqualify a motion
picture from an award, provide such exhibition occurs after
its theatrical release.
e. Documentary films are excluded from consideration
for feature film awards.
Rule
4. The Annual Awards
a. Awards of Merit shall be conferred on motion pictures
that raise the political consciousness of the viewing public.
Awards of Merit shall be conferred upon motion pictures with
the following achievements:
(1) DEMOCRACY: For the film that most effectively portrays
the way in which ordinary people have a right to choose public
policies and can bring about political change by making officeholders
accountable to the people.
(2) EXPOSÉ: For the film that most effectively brings
previously obscured truths about the political process to
the attention of the public, showing for example how offices
of public trust are used for private purposes.
(3) HUMAN RIGHTS: For the film that most effectively
demonstrates how governments or quasigovernmental groups have
violated or promoted the values in the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights.
(4) PEACE: For the film that most convincingly demonstrates
the folly of political violence as a means for resolving conflict
and/or shows the superiority of nonviolent political conflict
resolution.
b. Awards in other categories may be established from
time to time by the Board.
Rule
5. Film Festivals
a. Festivals, in which particular films are viewed
on just one or two occasions, shall be considered as a whole
for purposes of Awards of Merit.
b. Films at a film festival that best raise political
consciousness shall be given a Special Award without regard
to the above categories, though these criteria may be taken
into consideration.
c. Eligible films at film festivals shall include short
subjects as well as feature films and documentaries.
d. The Board shall decide which film festivals, if
any, shall quality for an Award of Merit.
e. The procedures for nomination and selection shall
be similar to other awards, as stated in Rules 7-10.
Rule
6. Honorific Awards
a. Special Awards named after particular individuals
are authorized under these Rules.
b. Such honorific awards shall be subject to the following
conditions:
(1) The criteria shall be consistent with the purposes of
the Political Film Society.
(2) The Board shall determine recipients of the honorific
awards.
(3) The funds to be allocated to winners of the awards shall
be drawn from interest accruing from a contribution of not
less than $100,000.
(4) The awards shall not be voted posthumously.
Rule
7. General Rules
a. Balloting on all awards shall be restricted to members
of the Political Film Society in good standing.
b. Voting for nominations and awards shall be by either
email or snailmail. In both cases, members in good standing
must identify themselves by email address or name and address,
respectively, in order to qualify to vote.
c. Ballots shall be opened and counted by the Board.
d. Directors of each nominated film shall be notified
of the decision to place the film in nomination for an award.
An achievement submitted for award consideration may be withdrawn
by the Director or the agent of the Director no later than
January 31 of the year in which the award is to be made.
e. In the event that an achievement voted an award
was done in equal collaboration by two or more persons, each
of the collaborators shall receive an award.
f. The tabulation of all ballots shall be counting
the number of yeas and nays cast. The Board can vote to break
a tie.
g. No write-in votes shall be counted.
h. Subject to special rules approved by the Board,
eligibility for consideration for awards shall be limited
to motion pictures that have met the requirements of Rule
3 and for which the following information has been obtained
by the Political Film Society, unless such limitations are
waived by the Board:
(1) full, complete and authentic credits regarding the name(s)
of the Directors of the film,
(2) the name of the theater in which the film played for the
first time, and
(3) the dates of the first commercial week of the film.
i. The Board shall provide for such meetings or special
showings as may be desirable to ensure a full and fair consideration
of the merits of all eligible achievements.
j. Motion pictures from all countries shall be eligible
for consideration for the awards.
k. The alteration of an achievement by changing a film
from the version shown outside the County of Los Angeles,
upon which eligibility is based, shall subject such achievement
to the risk of being declared ineligible by the Board.
l. Nominated and pre-nominated films shall be placed
on ballots in English alphabetical order.
m. Counting of nominations and final votes shall take
place at a public meeting of the Board, which shall announce
the winners promptly to Political Film Society members.
Rule
8. Pre-Nominations
a. Any member of the Political Film Society in good
standing has the right to pre-nominate any film for an award
by sending a pre-nomination letter, fax, or email to the Chief
Executive Officer of the Society, stating the name of the
film, the category for which the film is nominated, and the
reason for the pre- nomination. Pre-nominations for any year
may be done at any time up to December 31 of that year.
b. Films eligible for awards shall be determined by
credits as they appear on the screen and/or as certified to
the Society by the producers or producing companies, but final
determination in any event shall be made by the Board.
c. All films pre-nominated shall be so noted in a newsletter
published regularly by the Society. Reasons for the pre-nominations
will be provided in the newsletter, subject to editing by
the Chief Executive Officer, without attribution to the nominator.
d. In the event of any dispute concerning credits,
the Board reserves the right to declare any achievement ineligible
or, alternatively, to reject all claims to credit, list credits
as being in controversy and without any award until the dispute
is resolved.
Rule
9. Nominations
a. The Chief Executive Officer shall prepare a list
of pre-nominated films for a particular year by January 1
of the following year.
b. Not more than five nominations shall be made for
each award category. If there are more than five pre-nominations
for a category, the Chief Executive Officer shall prepare
a ballot consisting of a list of all pre-nominated films and
circulate ballots to all members of the Society by January
5. Members will then vote to narrow the list of nominations
to five. If there are fewer than five pre-nominations for
a category, nominations will be considered closed.
c. Upon receipt of the list of pre-nominations, members
of the Society shall mark ballots, giving the highest score
to the film deemed to have the highest achievement in each
category and shall return marked ballots to the Chief Executive
Officer of the Society within three weeks (by January 31).
d. The Board shall meet no later than one week later
(by February 7) to tabulate votes on pre-nominated films.
When the five highest films have been determined for a category,
nominations will be considered closed.
e. In the event that a pre-nominated film is declared
ineligible by the Board, the disputed film shall be replaced
by the nondisputed film that received the next highest number
of votes in the nominations balloting, if time reasonably
permits such substitution.
f. When the Board closes nominations for all categories,
the Chief Executive Officer shall prepare ballots for final
voting, listing each film alphabetically (using the English
alphabet).
Rule
10. Selection of Awards
a. Members of the Society in good standing shall be
eligible to vote on all ballots circulated by the Chief Executive
Officer to select outstanding achievements in film.
b. All ballots from members to narrow pre-nominated
films for a particular year to five shall be received by the
Chief Executive Officer by February 1 of the year following.
c. All ballots from members to select award winners
from nominated films for a particular year shall be received
by the Chief Executive Officer by March 10 of the year following.
d. Winners in the final balloting shall be announced
by the Board by March 15.
Rule
11. Membership
a. Members of the Political Film Society during 1997
shall be considered "original members."
b. New members may join the Political Film Society
during 1998 or thereafter by paying a one-time assessment
of US$5.00, payable to the "Political Film Society" and mailed
to the Chief Executive Officer of the Society.
c. The Board of Directors may, at its discretion, award
Honorary Memberships to persons who contribute substantial
in-kind services to the Political Film Society for one year.
Such memberships shall be subject to the same requirements
as all other memberships for continuing memberships.
d. Original and new members may continue their membership
in 1999 and thereafter free of charge if they supply email
addresses or access the Society's internet website or listserv.
e. Original and new members who desire to continue
their membership in 1999 and thereafter but do not subscribe
to the Society's internet website or listserv can do so by
paying annual assessments of US$5.00, payable to the "Political
Film Society" and mailed to the Chief Executive Officer of
the Society.
f. The assessments shall be handled in such a manner
as to maximize the possibility that members can claim a tax
deduction for their contributions within the framework of
tax regulations.
g. Members are entitled to attend any meeting convened
by the Board or the Chief Executive Officer of the Society.
The Chief Executive Officer shall announce the dates, times,
and venues of all meetings of the Board through a regularly
published newsletter.
h. Members of the Society are entitled to vote at the
annual meeting of the Society, but only Directors can vote
at meetings of the Board.
i. Members in good standing are those who keep active
email addresses or pay annual dues for fax or snailmail addresses.
j. Any member has the right to cancel membership in
the Society at any time.
Rule
12. Board of Directors
a. A Board of Directors of three voting members shall
be chosen each year at the annual meeting of the shareholders
of the Political Film Society.
b. The Chief Executive Officer shall preside at meetings
of the shareholders, of the Board and at annual meetings of
the Society.
c. The Chief Executive Officer shall announce the dates,
times, and venues of the meetings of the Society through a
regularly published newsletter.
d. Members of the Board may select from among its members
a convenor, who can act in the event that the Chief Executive
Officer is unable to do so.
e. The Secretary of the Society shall keep minutes
of all Board meetings, subject to approval by the Board, and
shall circulate information about decisions made by the Board
to the members through a regularly published newsletter.
f. The Board shall meet from time to time to discuss
the business of the Society. The Board shall have the authority
to form committees and to amend these Rules by majority vote.
