Sarah Jessica Parker on Producing Sundance Doc About Librarians Fighting Book Bans: ‘They Have Put Their Lives at Risk’

As a lifelong bibliophile who grew up with Carrie Bradshaw as my spiritual sister, I can’t help but feel a profound sense of admiration and solidarity for Sarah Jessica Parker and her latest endeavor, “The Librarians.” Her commitment to championing the cause of free access to literature is truly inspiring.

Using her production company called Pretty Matches Productions, Sarah Jessica Parker serves as the executive producer for Kim A. Snyder’s film “The Librarians,” which is among the 91 movies featured in the Premiere category of the Sundance Film Festival in the year 2025.

The documentary focuses on a band of librarians, known as the FReadom Fighters, who have stood against book bans not just in Texas and Florida, but also elsewhere. It is created by Snyder, Jana Edelbaum, and Janique Robillard, and supervised by Parker, Alison Benson from Pretty Matches, and Maria Cuomo Cole.

Parker shares with EbMaster at the Red Sea Film Festival that it’s about the librarians nationwide who’ve been resisting book bans. These individuals have been courageously opposing ideologies that limit children’s access to specific books, often placing their own lives and those of their families on the line. Despite this, they haven’t given in.

Parker’s passion for books and reading was ignited at an early age, and she believes that this affection is a significant characteristic she has in common with her iconic TV persona, Carrie Bradshaw from “Sex and the City.

Passion spurred Parker into establishing a book club and her own publishing firm. Lately, it has resulted in her being selected for the judging panel of the esteemed British literary honor, the Booker Prize.

Parker learned about “The Librarians” from producer Edelbaum during the making of “Beyond Utopia: Escape From North Korea”. He explains that she approached them since she was working on this documentary and needed additional funding to strengthen their team, and they were captivated by it.

As a passionate moviegoer, I’d say:

With the wave of book bans spreading across the country, the membership of the Freedom Fighters grew, hosting meetings and establishing a popular Twitter/X platform boasting 6,000 followers. This account posted more than 13,000 tweets, emphasizing the life-altering impact books can have.

The main figure in the documentary is Amanda Jones, a school librarian from southern Louisiana, who penned “That Librarian — The Fight Against Book Banning in America” published by Bloomsbury in 2024. As Parker puts it, “It’s an excellent book, and we delve into her challenges.

Previously, Snyder has been the director of several notable documentaries. These include “Newtown,” which won a Peabody award and premiered at Sundance in 2016, “Lessons from a School Shooting: Notes from Dunblane” that premiered at Tribeca in 2018, and “Us Kids,” which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2020.

Through Pretty Matches Productions, Parker has overseen a diverse range of productions, from the “Sex and the City” sequel series “And Just Like That,” to fictional works like HBO’s Golden Globe-nominated “Divorce” and “Blue Night,” as well as documentaries such as “And Just Like That… The Documentary” (2022).

The shingle (a production company) is expanding its scope, taking on fresh ventures. In the movie “Front Row,” produced by Lea Fels and Isidoor Roebers, Parker and Benson were among the executive producers alongside Bart Meuter and Jay Ruderman, under the direction of Miriam Guttmann. This film, which revolves around a troupe of Ukrainian ballet dancers in exile who incorporate a soldier who lost his legs during battle on the Ukrainian-Russian border, made its debut at the 2024 DocNYC film festival.

Parker shares that he’s deeply passionate about ballet due to his roles as a member of the New York City Ballet board and a former dancer himself. While watching the news one day, he stumbled upon a heartwarming story about Ukrainian dancers who formed a company in the Netherlands after being displaced from their homes. Intrigued, Parker discussed this with Alison, and they delved deeper into the subject, discovering that a film crew was following them. This discovery led them to become involved in the project. When an Ukrainian soldier joined the dance company, the documentary took on a unique dimension, becoming quite captivating, as Parker describes it.

Besides the ongoing project (the show), we’re currently working on several other ventures. These include numerous non-fiction documentaries, two fictional series, and a film which is planned for release next year.

2024-12-12 17:16

Sarah Jessica Parker on Producing Sundance Doc About Librarians Fighting Book Bans: ‘They Have Put Their Lives at Risk’

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