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.

January 19, 2015

I AM

Promotional photo

Reel and Meal will launch the new year with the documentary I AM.

I AM is an utterly engaging and entertaining non-fiction film that poses two practical and provocative questions:

  • what’s wrong with our world, and
  • what can we do to make it better?

The filmmaker behind the inquiry is Tom Shadyac, the leading comedy and creative force behind such blockbusters as “Ace Ventura” and “Bruce Almighty.” However, in I AM, Shadyac steps in front of the camera to recount what happened to him after a cycling accident left him incapacitated, possibly for good. Though he ultimately recovered, he emerged with a new sense of purpose, determined to share his own awakening to his prior life of excess and greed, and to investigate how he as an individual, and we as a race, could improve the way we live and walk in the world.

Ironically, in the process of trying to figure out what’s wrong with the world, he discovered there’s more right than he ever imagined. Meeting with a variety of thinkers and doers -– remarkable men and women from the worlds of science, philosophy, academia, and faith — including such luminaries as David Suzuki, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Lynne McTaggart, Ray Anderson, John Francis, Coleman Barks, and Marc Ian Barasch. The film gives us an opportunity to look at “human connectedness, happiness, and the human spirit,” and the “world’s ever-growing addiction to materialism” among other issues.

Trailer