Film Screening: The Librarians
The Librarians, which made its world premiere at Sundance and continued on to SXSW and Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, explores the urgent moment we find ourselves in. 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, flanked by concerned community members and young readers. The Librarians is a chilling cautionary tale and rallying cry for freedom—told through the personal experiences of librarians under siege and the everyday patriots who join their ranks in defense of books.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion including Oscar-nominated and Peabody Award-winning Director/Producer of The Librarians, Kim A. Snyder.
Jacqueline Woodson is an American writer of books for adults, children, and adolescents. She is best known for her National Book Award-Winning memoir Brown Girl Dreaming, and her Newbery Honor-winning titles After Tupac and D Foster, Feathers, and Show Way. Her picture books The Day You Begin and The Year We Learned to Fly were NY Times Bestsellers. After serving as the Young People’s Poet Laureate from 2015 to 2017, she was named the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by the Library of Congress for 2018–19. She was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 2020. Later that same year, she was named a MacArthur Fellow.
Martha Hickson is a New Jersey-based librarian who, despite being falsely labeled a sex offender, receiving hate mail, being the target of vandalism, and having her judgment and integrity questioned, organized a defense for keeping books – Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison, All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson, Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, and This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson – on the library shelves at North Hunterdon High School in Annandale, NJ.
Kim Snyder’s most recent film Death By Numbers was Oscar-nominated for Best Short Documentary and garnered 2024 Montclair Film Festival Best Short Documentary and Honorable Mention Jury Award from Doc NYC. Her most recent feature documentary The Librarians (PBS / Independent Lens) premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival and is an official selection at numerous festivals nationwide. Prior films include Us Kids premiered in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, followed by SXSW, Sheffield, and Full Frame, where it received the Kathleen Edwards Bryan Human Rights Award and 14 subsequent festival awards.
Jackson Gomes is the Young Adult Internship Coordinator for Brooklyn Public Library. Jackson brings a rich tapestry of experience and dedication to his role. Originally from the Cape Verde Islands, he immigrated to the United States at the age of ten, finding solace and opportunity within the welcoming embrace of the Brooklyn Public Library.
Beyond his professional endeavors, Jackson is a key figure in Brooklyn’s nationally recognized Books Unbanned project, advocating for young adults facing book banning in their states and facilitating access to digital library resources. The program's success is due in part to partnerships with libraries across the country. In recognition of its impact, the program was awarded Library Journal’s prestigious 2023 Librarian(s) of the Year award.
Presented as part of National Library Week.
