This week, we share another great film from Participant, and CNN Films, with Sundance standout RBG, which explores the personal journey of Supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. More personal adventures, a bit more extreme, with Mountain. And we close with a nod to the Cannes Film Festival, which is currently underway, as we highlight a personal portrait of filmmaker and artist, with David Lynch: The Art Life. Of course David won the Palme d’Or in Cannes 1990 with Wild at Heart.

This weekend, we celebrate Cinco de Mayo, so why not spotlight a few films that connect us to Mexican culture. We bookend the show with two films where themes of food and romance run wild, in Like Water for Chocolate and Tortilla Soup…with former Sundance standout, Quinceañera sandwiched in between.

This week, we highlight a few movies where show business is a recurring theme.  From celebrating the writing craft with Joan Didion, to personal stories affected by the Hollywood machine with Film Stars don’t die in Liverpool, and we conclude this week with new documentary bringing us another side of cinema – with Hitler’s Hollywood.

We also wanted to recognize, the 50th Anniversary of Mel Brooks’ The Producers, which kicked off the TCM Classic Film Festival at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood AND will have a limited theatrical run in theaters this June.

What some people don’t know, is Brooks originally wrote it as a play, entitled Springtime for Hitler. Fortunately, for us, a producer advised him to convert the play into a movie script, and change the title.

To see the trailers or get more info, visit us at Cause Cinema.

This week we’re happy to recognize Earth Day, coming up on April 22nd

Most of us believe in Climate change, and what better way to celebrate our planet than to engage through cinema. Today, we highlight 3 films anchored on this subject of the environment, along with some of the amazing wildlife being challenged by our climate crisis.

 Virunga, an extraordinary film sharing the biodiversity of the Congo and winner of 54 intl film awards – The Vanishing of Bees, an important movie released in 2009 that you may not have seen, and Origins, an interesting journey through our biological roots that raises concerns about how technology is choking our environment.

For more information on these films and the Eco Film Challenge that will launch on Earth Day (April 22), please visit us at Cause Cinema.

This week we explore one of life’s common questions…What if?

In life, we’re all faced with questions of trust, faith and the basic human condition. We all want to be happy, and we all have our own belief systems. But what if we learn something that shatters our truth? Or when we discover there are, in fact, solutions to problems we thought were beyond our reach? Or if long shots can payoff?

With these three movies, we get a get a fair sampling of such questions, along with some mind-altering answers.

Long Shot

A Time to Choose

Come Sunday

This week, we share 3 terrific movies, with very powerful themes. Important issues of humanity, the cost of war and conflict, on people and the environment, and the true power of love and connection. We experience a heroic Doctor in the Heart of Nuba, face some hard questions with The Age of Consequences and bittersweet magic of Life is Beautiful.

This week, we present 3 films with heroes who are met with extraordinary personal challenges. A teenage girl is bounced from one foster care to another in First Match.  A young boy with polio achieves phenomenal success in the documentary Itzhak; and we tip the hat to Easter Sunday with an old classic from 1959, that touches on the subject of Jesus with Ben Hur - winner of 11 Academy Awards including Best Picture!

SXSW is in full swing in Austin this week, so we decided bring you 3 of the more recent music docs.

Terrific movies that have played the fest circuit these past few years, now available on digital platforms. Gary Numan Android in LA LA land – which I saw at SXSW a couple years back. A Life in Waves, about music composer Suzanne Ciani, and finally Colin Hay: Waiting for My real life to begin.

For more information on these movies, or learn about other podcasts, visit Cause Cinema.

This week, we celebrated International Women’s day. As we can see, now more than ever, there are many calls to action with regard to supporting women.  Learn more here.

In this podcast, we honor 3 strong female personalities and talents. See Allred is the Netflix doc presenting Gloria Allred and her Voice for Change.  Followed by a music doc, Janis: Little Girl Blue, certainly one of the most talented and outspoken rockstars ever.

We close with Atomic Homefront, a terrific documentary from HBO, by Rebeca Cammisa. All she did was produce, direct and serve as director of photography.

To learn more about this film and how to take action, click here.

To learn more about Cause Cinema, and hear other podcast, click here.

The Academy Awards are this weekend so we thought it would be fun to have a look at a few Oscar misses, films we feel should have received a nomination.

We highlight two of the biggest docs ever, clearly deserving of this high honor, and one missing from this year’s list.

Jane (2017)

The Thin Blue Line (1988)

Hoop Dreams (1994)

For more information on Cause Cinema, or to hear other podcasts, click here.

In honor of the Spark Change Summit, presented this week by Creative Visions and the Skoll Center for Social Impact Entertainment over at UCLA, we will highlight three documentaries connected to visionaries who spoke at this inspiring event. I was honored to participate in this engaging series of panels and conversations, with such a distinguished group of industry leaders and creative activists.

The three films we will share with you today are very powerful, each with a clear call to action. Social Impact filmmaking at it’s best. They include: An Inconvenient Sequel, Unseen Enemy and I am Jane Doe.

For more information on these films, and learn about other amazing social impact films,visit Cause Cinema.

This week, we highlight three documentaries connected to the oval office, in celebration of Presidents Day weekend. One of the most successful docs of all time – Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 911. One of the most decorated docs – The Fog of War by Errol Morris, and we round out this week’s program with President Barack Obama, and The Final Year.

For more information on these films, to see the trailers and get links to platforms showing each title, visit Cause Cinema.

This week, we will continue our countdown the Oscars and celebrate The Florida Project - a terrific indie that earned an Academy Award nomination in the best supporting actor category, for Willem Dafoe. Then we will present a terrific doc - Code: Debugging The Gender Gap, a buzz title from last year’s festival circuit, now available on digital platforms. And finally, we will share another movie from our Health and Wellness Showcase – a documentary called Sustainable.

This week, in honor of Black History Month, we’re going to kick off with Mudbound. This hit out of last years Sundance film festival, a terrific period piece, takes a long hard look at racial inequality after the war…

Then, we shift to the battlegrounds of Syria and the award winning documentary Last Men in Aleppo.

Finally, we end with more peace in our last movie of the week, a tip of the hat to Cause Cinema's Health & Wellness showcase this quarter - with Awake: The Life of Yogananda – our first rockstar guru.

From real issues, to real war, to peaceful spirit, this is eye opening cinema at its finest!

This was a big week in entertainment. Oscar Nominations were announced, the Sundance and Slamdance fests are in full swing in Park City. And we’re gearing up for the Grammys on Sunday.

We thought it would be a good time to present some of the best Music Docs now available on various platforms.  Visual and Performing arts worlds come together in celebration.

Just two years ago, we had two major music related films in the documentary category, What happened Miss Simone and Amy. A few years before that, we had the incredible Searching for Sugar Man take home the Oscar, after earning the Special Jury Prize and Audience Awards at Sundance.

All three of these amazing music docs are available on digital platforms.  

With the Park City Festival madness in full swing, I thought it would be fun to celebrate a few award winning films from the Sundance & Slamdance Film Festivals – all 3 of them having “FILMMAKING” as a central theme.

You can find the on digital platforms today.

THE DIRTIES

CASTING JON BENET

CAMERAPERSON

For more information on these films and to see the trailers, visit Cause Cinema.  http://www.causecinema.com/

For our first podcast of 2018, We kick off with powerful and inspiring movies, all sharing Relationships in one way or another. One of the hottest docs of the year, Faces Places takes us on an adventure in France where our two heroes develop an wonderful friendship.

 Our second film Hunting Ground, shows a darker side, where relations go terribly wrong, yet woman are speaking out.

And as Cause Cinema transitions into our Health and Wellness Showcase this quarter our third movie – Plant Pure Nation celebrates a movement around our relationship to food, and ultimately our health

Visit Cause Cinema for more info on these and other social impact films.

Welcome back to the Cause Cinema Podcast. This was yet another amazing year for the doc genre, and keep in mind, we are focusing on US productions here. Stay tuned for our International list.

Most of these films scored in the 90s with critics at Rotten Tomatoes, many of them award winners on the festival circuit.

While we feel these are the top overall social impact movies of the year, we know “best” is subjective, so we’re not presenting them here as a countdown, but covering in alphabetical order.

To find out which video platforms are showing the films, visit causecinema.com and you will find direct links for all of the movies, to each of their viewing channels…And of course, for those films with specific “causes” you will find more info, links and access to related websites.

In recognition of Human Rights Day, December 10, we present 3 films where freedom is at stake.

The Breadwinner

The Square

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail

Visit CauseCinema.com for more information on the movies, to see trailers and find links to all the platforms where you can see these amazing films.

This week, we celebrate another national holiday with Thanksgiving. We thought it would be fun to present films that connected to the idea of food and cuisine, with Hungry for Change and Jiro Dreams of Sushi, as well as a third film - The Staging Post that represents the power of community - an ideal certainly shared between the our colonists and Native Americans back when this celebration was first conceived (1621).

For more information on these film, where to find them and to see trailers, visit CauseCinema.com.

Happy Thanksgiving! 

This week, we pay tribute to Veterans Day, with three great films where our adventurous heroes all take an incredible journey – in every sense of the word. 

The Journey is the Destination

Blood Road

Honor Flight

To learn more about these movies and their related causes, visit http://www.causecinema.com/.

This week's podcast includes three films where unlikely heroes take center stage, protecting their homeland, their communities and creating movements for change. 

 
Films:

Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower
Whose Streets?​
City of Ghosts

For more information, and links to trailers, visit us at Cause Cinema.com.

This week's podcast includes three films, all pointing to themes of humanity.  We need to recognize our gifts and potential as human beings, not be wasteful, and place greater value on human rights.

Films:

Love Thy Nature

Wasted! The Story of Food Waste

Human Flow

For more information, links to film sites and trailers, visit Cause Cinema.

Enjoy!

Welcome back to CauseCinema, where we connect you with the best in social impact filmmaking.  We hope to introduce you to some outstanding new movies you may not have heard about…and we’ll tell you where to find them.  In less than 10 minutes!

This week, we share three terrific docs out of the Park City scene, two from Sundance and one from Slamdance.

Weiner

The Million dollar Duck

How to let go of the World – and love all the things climate can’t change.

For more details on the films, visit www.causecinema.com

Enjoy!