(Kim A. Snyder, US 2025, 88 min., DCP)
A timely documentary about a profession and freedom of thought under siege, The Librarians takes a hard look at the growing movement to ban books in public institutions. As an unprecedented wave of book banning 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 United States 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 a large-scale coordinated extremist movement 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.