Abby Remer, MV Times; Librarians on the frontline
"Kim A. Snyder’s “The Librarians,” screening at the Grange Hall on August 1, is part of the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival’s 25th anniversary Summer Celebration Series.
The powerful, deeply chilling documentary exposes the complexities surrounding the rising tide of book bans in libraries over the past five years, and the courageous heroes who battle against them.
Snyder, an Oscar-nominated and Peabody-winning director, opens the documentary with Ray Bradbury’s unsettling words from “Fahrenheit 451”: “It was a pleasure to burn. It was a specific pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed.”
She goes on to weave together tense school board meetings with intimate interviews of librarians on the frontlines who have been fired, harassed, and stalked as they defend books about race and LGBTQ topics. Snyder enhances current real-life events with clips from old movies that rail against librarians and endorse book-burning, reflecting how scarily close reality has come to art.
The first voice we hear is that of a distressed librarian who is backlit to remain anonymous. “I never imagined that what’s happening now could ever happen. It didn’t dawn on us that we’d come under attack. We never imagined we’d be at the forefront … We’re stewards of the space, of the resources. We’re stewards for the people … Now we’ve moved into the vanguard.”
Throughout the film, we meet librarians in Texas, Louisiana, and Florida as they face fierce opponents — including politicians, the right-wing organization Moms for Liberty, and conservative school boards — while defending access to books that reflect students’ lives. Although their passion is evident, it is even more powerful to watch clips of students testifying or sharing informal moments about their experiences, as they are the ones harmed by the removal of books that speak to their truth. One teenage student at a school board meeting stands at a podium, confronting the members: “The job of the superintendent and school board is not only to protect students in this district, but to make them feel like they have a place in this community. I have got to tell you, from what I’m seeing so far, you are failing at your job … Stop the censorship in our district. Wake up to the reality that we are all different, and we should embrace each other with love and not blatant hate.”...
At the film’s end, the anonymous librarian comes forth on camera, leaving us with her words, “I can’t stay in the shadows anymore … I won’t be censored, just like we can’t let them keep censoring the stories in our books. What I do know is that our story is still being written. But now it’s everyone’s story.”"
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