In time for this year's Banned Books Week, a documentary called The Librarians, directed by Kim A. Snyder (Death by Numbers, Us Kids, Newton, and more) and executive produced by Sarah Jessica Parker, is being released in the U.S. October 3.
As PEN America wrote, "The Librarians follows a group of determined library professionals on the front lines. The film lays bare the links between local school board battles and a broader political agenda fueled by Christian Nationalism."
The Librarians calls librarians "first responders in the fight for democracy and our First Amendment Rights. As they well know, controlling the flow of ideas means control over communities."
A focus is the Krause List in Texas that targets 850 books concerning "race and LGBTQIA+ stories--triggering sweeping book bans across the U.S. at an unprecedented rate. As tensions escalate, librarians connect the dots from heated school and library board meetings nationwide to lay bare the underpinnings of extremism fueling the censorship efforts. Despite facing harassment, threats, and laws aimed at criminalizing their work--the librarians' rallying cry for freedom to read is a chilling cautionary tale."