Happy New Year, and welcome back to the Cause Cinema Spotlight.
This year, we will continue to highlight socially relevant stories, but will sharpen our focus on independent projects that may not be on your radar. We’ll typically feature projects coming off a successful festival run, films that don’t have the massive marketing budgets that come with studio movies. Our hope to share these amazing stories that, in addition to their entertainment value, include elements of social impact and artistic vision, that will spark conversations.
We’re going to embrace our role in expanding the audience for these important works, helping you discover projects you may not know about.
Ok, now on with the show.
With Awards season in full swing - the Golden Globes are this Sunday - we’re going to highlight a few of the strong candidates now available to stream. Two are International Films, one nominated for a Golden Globe and the other a likely nominee for the Academy Award for Best Documentary. We’ll kick things off with a new documentary on the first X rated movie to win Best Picture.
Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy
Shortlisted by the Academy in the Best Feature Documentary category, this doc presents extensive archival material and compelling new interviews illuminate how the 1969 film "Midnight Cowboy" captured the essence of a time and a place, reflecting a rapidly changing society with striking clarity. We follow the behind-the-scenes odyssey to get Midnight Cowboy (1969) produced, as well as the tumultuous era in which the movie was released and embraced. The movie was the first X rated movie to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
You can see Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy on Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, GooglePlay and YouTube.
Eternal Memory
Augusto and Paulina have been together and in love for 25 years. Eight years ago, their lives were forever changed by Augusto’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis. As one of Chile’s most prominent cultural commentators and television presenters, Augusto is no stranger to building an archive of memory. Now he turns that work to his own life, trying to hold on to his identity with the help of his beloved Paulina, whose own pre-eminence as a famous actress and Chilean Minister of Culture predates her ceaselessly inventive manner of engaging with her husband. Day by day, the couple face this challenge head-on, relying on the tender affection and sense of humour shared between them that remains, remarkably, fully intact.
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize in World Cinema - Documentary at Sundance.
Eternal Memory was shot in Spanish language and you can see on Paramount+ or purchase on on Amazon or AppleTV.
Society of the Snow
In 1972, a Uruguayan flight crashes in the remote heart of the Andes, forcing survivors to become each other's best hope. This survival thriller based on a true story is one of the final nominees for Best International Feature for this weekend’s Golden Globe Awards. Society of the Snow is Spain’s 2023 submission to the Academy in the International Feature category.
Society of the Snow was shot in Spanish language and is available on Netflix with English subtitles.
And that’s a wrap for the Cause Cinema Spotlight. Until next week, you take care.
Desperate Souls, Eternal Memory & Society of the Snow