THE LIBRARIANS

description

As an unprecedented wave of book banning largely addressing race and LGBT issues is sparked in Texas, Florida, and beyond, librarians under siege join forces as unlikely defenders fighting for intellectual freedom on the front lines of democracy.

In Texas, the Krause List targets 850 books focused on 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 White Christian Nationalism 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. Filmmaker Kim A. Snyder (NEWTOWN, US KIDS, 2025 Oscar®-Nominated DEATH BY NUMBERS) takes us to an unexpected front line where librarians emerge as first responders in the fight for democracy, free access to information, and our First Amendment Rights.

OFFICIAL SELECTION
Sundance Film Festival 2025
SXSW 2025
Vancouver International Film Festival 2025
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2025
Frameline Film Festival 2025

DIRECTOR'S BIO
Kim A. Snyder is an American Oscar-nominated and Peabody award-winning filmmaker and producer. Snyder made her directorial debut with the 2000 documentary, I REMEMBER ME, a biographical film chronicling her struggles with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. In 2016, Snyder won the ACTNow award at the Crested Butte Film Festival for her film NEWTOWN and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize-Documentary at Sundance Film Festival. Her Oscar-nominated short DEATH BY NUMBERS (2024), co-created with gun-violence survivor Sam Fuentes, has won multiple awards. Snyder's acclaimed films include US KIDS (2020) (Sundance 2020), and NOTES FROM DUNBLANE: LESSON FROM A SCHOOL SHOOTING (2018) (Netflix Original).