Reel and Meal at the New Deal

Reel and Meal is a monthly film series at the New Deal Cafe exploring vital environmental, animal rights, and social justice issues. Admission to the film is always free, sponsored by several Greenbelt community organizations. Contributions are gladly accepted to cover each month’s donation to a non-profit organization.

Reel and Meal events are in-person (limited seating) and online via Zoom.  Each month registration links will be posted here.  You can also reach out to Reel and Meal at

Date: Third Monday of every month
Time: The free film starts at 7pm.
Dinner: Dinners are available at the café after 4pm with several plant-based options.
Carryout: The Co-Op Supermarket Meatless Monday meals can be picked up from the “grab and go” for Zoom at-home viewing after 11am.
Location: Online or at the New Deal Cafe – 113 Centerway in historic Greenbelt, MD
Public transportation: The cafe is accessible by Metro Buses G12, 13, 14 and 16 from the Greenbelt Metro station.

December 21, 2020

Rigged: The Voter Suppression Playbook

At 6:45pm, Reel and Meal at the New Deal Cafe will virtually screen the provocative documentary Rigged: The Voter Suppression Playbook. Film begins at 7pm; entry to Zoom at 6:45pm. Registration is required -– register at https://tinyurl.com/y2ky8cpk.

As we continue to unravel from the November General Election, we realize just how close we came to a second Trump presidency that most likely would have spelled the final death knell to our fragile democracy. This film will help explain how we have arrived at this point and offer ways we can run interference on the playbook designed to protect and prop up the white, patriarchy. 

Narrated by Jeffrey Wright, Rigged chronicles how our right to vote is being undercut by a decade of dirty tricks – including the partisan use of gerrymandering and voter purges, and the gutting of the Voting Rights Act by the Supreme Court. The film captures real-time voter purges in North Carolina and voter intimidation in Texas. “Rigged shows how the right to vote is under attack from every direction, and we need to let people know about it,” said executive producers Mac Heller and Timothy Smith. “Unless we act now and seek to protect and, yes, augment the right to vote, we will witness the slow bleed-out of our democracy.” 

This screening is timely as it comes less than a month before the important run-off elections in Georgia, where the Voter Suppression Playbook will be operating at full throttle. Please watch and learn how you can be an active participant in defending democracy and helping to turn the Senate Blue – a crucial component to ensure the Biden/Harris administration can not only rollback the racist, discriminatory, unjust, anti-environmental policies, orders, rules, regulations of the past 4 years but push forward progressive, compassionate, equitable laws. A discussion will follow. 

As part of the monthly documentary series, Greenbelt’s Co-op Grocery offers a vegan meal to Reel and Meal participants for $7.99. This month’s menu features a generous slice of Dodah’s Kitchen’s Spinach Lasagna (layered with spinach and a tofu-soy cheese blend) along with a fresh field green salad with carrots, and cherry tomatoes. Phone in your pre-order to the deli at 301.474.0522 by 1:00pm on Monday 12/21 for pick-up between 4:00pm and 7:00pm at the deli. Depending on demand, there may be dinners on a walk-in basis if not preordered. 

For more information about this month’s film, contact Cam MacQueen at .

Trailer

Watch the Film on Youtube

You can watch the entire film on Youtube.