Director and documentary legend Sheila Nevins has been nominated for an Oscar for her newest project, and it is easy to see why.
The ABC’s of Book Banning is a short film documentary about book censorship in schools in America. Many of the books that have been censored – meaning banned, restricted or challenged – deal with themes of race, sexuality, gender, and women empowerment.
Nevins, along with Trish Adelsic, didn’t simply tell stories of how the ban is affecting children – they showed us. The film utilizes real life accounts of children impacted by the book ban, along with snippets of authors reading their censored books. These kids, many of them quite young, have a level of intelligence that is hard to comprehend at their ages. Not only that, their capacity for empathy and compassion for those who are different from them makes the future seem a bit brighter.
The film is heartbreaking. These kids are confused and they are angry and Nevins does an amazing job at utilizing these kids feeling in a very persuasive way. The film also features Grace Linn, a 100 year old woman, who is standing in front of a school board, protesting the ban. Her speech is incredibly passionate and shows that the book censorship is not just affecting kids. It affects everyone.
There isn’t much to say except that the film is simply powerful and beautiful evidence to Nevins’ storytelling abilities. Amplifying children’s voices and showcasing excerpts from many of the censored books is an amazing way to bring awareness to the problems of censorship. The film is a protest and it is a compelling one.
