Now Showing @ ALA Film Program
ALA Unit/Subunit: ALA
Meeting Type: Now Showing @ ALA Film Program
Cost: Included with full conference registration.
Open/Closed: Open
Join writer/director Emilio Estevez for a special screening of his new film "the public." Also starring Alec Baldwin, Jena Malone, Christian Slater, Taylor Schilling, Che “Rhymefest” Smith, Gabrielle Union, Jeffrey Wright, and Michael K. Williams, this drama tackles some of our nation's most challenging issues, including homelessness and mental illness. In "the public" an unusually bitter Arctic blast has made its way to downtown Cincinnati--and the Cincinnati Public Library. The story revolves around the library’s patrons, many of whom are homeless, mentally ill and marginalized, and their interactions with the exhausted and overwhelmed staff of librarians who have built emotional connections with them. At odds with library officials over how to handle the extreme weather event, the patrons turn the building into a homeless shelter for the night by staging an "Occupy" sit in. But what begins as an act of civil disobedience becomes a standoff with police fueled by a storm of media coverage outside the library. Following the film will be a Q&A with Estevez and moderated by Ryan J. Dowd, executive director of Hesed House in Aurora, Illinois.
Watch the trailer.
Ryan Dowd
Executive Director
Hesed House / Homeless Training Institute