Co-Presented by the Woodstock Public Library + Queerly Inc., & the Woodstock Film Festival.
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 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 for all of us.
Following the incredible response to our August 2025 screening, we’re pleased to offer another opportunity to experience this urgent and timely film. Stay after the screening for a post-film panel discussion moderated by Jennifer Brown, award-winning author and DEI thought leader, who will Ivy Gocker (Director at the Woodstock Library), Janique Robillard (Producer), and Dinaw Mengestu (President of PEN America).
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 the books.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER + Q&A PARTICIPANTS:
Kim A. Snyder is an Academy Award® nominee and Peabody Award-winning Director / Producer whose latest feature, THE LIBRARIANS, premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival and will release globally in late 2025. Her Oscar-nominated short DEATH BY NUMBERS, co-created with gun-violence survivor Sam Fuentes, has won multiple awards. Snyder’s acclaimed films include US KIDS (Sundance 2020), LESSONS FROM A SCHOOL SHOOTING (Netflix Original), and NEWTOWN (Sundance 2016, Peabody Award, PBS). Her earlier work includes WELCOME TO SHELBYVILLE (PBS) and I REMEMBER ME (Zeitgeist Films). She also associate produced the Oscar-winning short TREVOR, which spawned The Trevor Project. Snyder holds a Master’s Degree in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins SAIS and lives in New York City.
Jennifer Brown (she/her) is a globally recognized DEI thought leader, highly sought after speaker, award-winning entrepreneur, and best-selling author. Her newest book The Shape of Change On Leadership, Resilience, and the Urgent Art of Becoming More Human Together! comes out soon. She and her partner Michelle currently reside in Sauger-stock.
Ivy Gocker has worked in urban and rural libraries for 18 years, starting at the Brooklyn Public Library as a youth services librarian. During her time in Brooklyn, Ivy moved to the local history department as an archivist before becoming the Library's first Manager of Special Collections in 2013. She moved to New York's North Country in 2016 and worked for six years as Library Director at the Adirondack Experience, a local history museum. In 2021 she moved to the Hudson Valley to take on the role of Director at the Woodstock Library, where she most recently oversaw the renovation of and relocation to the Library's new home at 10 Dixon Avenue. She has a Master's degree in Library Science from Pratt Institute and lives in Kingston, NY.
Janique Robillard - Producer - is an Oscar-nominated documentary producer and independent filmmaker. Recent credits include producing two films with Peabody Award-winning Director Kim A. Snyder – DEATH BY NUMBERS, nominated for the 2025 Academy® Awards: Best Documentary Short Film, and THE LIBRARIANS with PBS/Independent Lens. THE LIBRARIANS has garnered numerous Jury and Audience Awards at festivals since its 2025 Sundance world premiere and screened in over 200 theaters in the U.S. and internationally. Previous credits include Impact Producer on Us Kids (directed by Snyder), Associate Producer on THE FIX docu-series (directed by Jeremiah Zagar), and Development Producer for clients including Netflix. She’s committed to storytelling that elevates marginalized voices and creates meaningful impact for the communities who collaborate in the filmmaking process.
Dinaw Mengestu is a celebrated Ethiopian-American novelist and journalist known for exploring the immigrant experience, authoring acclaimed books like The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, How to Read the Air, and All Our Names, earning him honors such as a 2012 MacArthur Genius Grant, and writing for The New Yorker, Harper's, and Rolling Stone while teaching at Bard College. Born in Ethiopia in 1978, he immigrated to the U.S. at age two, blending his heritage with American life in his poignant narratives. He is the newly named President of PEN America.
“Filmmaker Kim A. Snyder’s illuminating documentary — offers a rattling look at coordinated efforts to ban books. More importantly, it introduces viewers to the everyday and increasingly vital heroes pushing back.”