All too often, countless films with unapologetically progressive messages ruin our nights out at the movies. Before throwing our hands up in despair, let’s see which recent movies actually promote the timeless ideas of civil and economic liberties. How do the 2009 Oscar nominations stand up when we evaluate their promotion of free market values?

More importantly, what is the status of the freedom movement in the medium of film? Are producers and scriptwriters that promote the ideas of liberty learning lessons from their more successful colleagues? What kind of tricks are they using to sell scripts, plot lines, and character development that promotes civil and economic liberties?

These and other questions will be discussed by our distinguished panel: Duncan Scott (producer, director, and writer of Duncan Scott Productions), Maura Flynn (documentary producer and publicist who serves on the board of American Film Renaissance), Michael Pack (President of Manifold Productions, Inc.) and Chandler Tuttle (Moving Picture Institute fellow who adapted Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron). The panel will be moderated by Tanja Stumberger (research associate at the Cato Institute).