Here’s today’s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture.

Why it’s important to see October Baby THIS weekend. Jason Jones, the activist movie producer who formed the the organization and website Movie to Movement to mobilize audience support for films that promote faith-based values,  says that it’s extremely important for audiences to turn out at theaters this particular  weekend.

He notes that the Erwin Brothers movie has been exceeding industry expectations at the box office for a month now.  If it continues to do so this weekend, he predicts the momentum will propel the pro-life film to a huge nationwide release that will include most major cineplexes across the country.  That’s why Movie to Movement is still seeking theater captains to help mobilize movie goers who want their voice heard in Hollywood.  For information on how to become a theater captain click here.

October Baby stars Rachel Hendrix as a teenager who learns she survived an abortion as an infant and sets out on a journey to find her birth mother.  John Schneider and Jasmine Guy also star in the movie which Jones calls “a celebration of the dignity, beauty and incomparable worth of the human person.”

I agree. And, BTW, if you see the film, send me a review and two of you can win both an October Baby T-shirt and a movie poster signed by the cast.  Contact me at john@jwkmedia.com.

Jones, meanwhile, believes October Baby is part of a turning point in American culture. As he puts it “You know, there’s really something happening across America today. You got October Baby rocking the box office…communicating a culture of life…There’s a wave across our country  promoting human dignity.”

He also suggests that Hollywood may not be as pro-abortion as we tend to think. “Can I tell you a secret?” he says. “I live and work in Hollywood and I have friends that are very liberal  but do you know that almost every one I know in Hollywood is pro life? Now, most of them lack the courage to communicate that because those what we call “above the line” may not share the values of the people below the line.  Everywhere I go people will whisper to me ‘I’m pro life.’ ”

He says, to some degree, pro-life sentiment is even coming out of Tinseltown’s above-the-line closet.  Beyond October Baby and Bella (which he was a producer on), he points such mainstream hits as Juno and even the raunchy comedy Knocked Up (which he calls “the most aggressively pro-life movie ever). He’s also, surprisingly, adds the TV show South Park to the list saying that “Planned Parenthood never survives a South Park season unscatched.” 

Meanwhile, looking beyond October Baby, Movie to Movement is gearing up to support some new positive films coming down the pike later this year. More on those Monday.

Encourage one another and build each other up – 1 Thessalonians 5:11