"Inspiring and electrifying..." Roger Ebert, Chicago-Sun Times
"A celebration of American youth at their creative best..." Robert Koehler, Variety
Louder Than a Bomb premieres Thursday, January 5 at 9/8c only on OWN.
Read more: http://www.oprah.com/own-doc-club/Louder-Than-A-Bomb-Trailer#ixzz1iei2OpuQ
Doc Club
Watch Louder Than A Bomb
Premieres Thursday, January 5 at 9/8c
Premieres Thursday, January 5 at 9/8c
Film
LOUDER THAN A BOMB is a film about passion, competition, teamwork, and trust. It’s about the joy of being young, and the pain of growing up. It’s about speaking out, making noise, and finding your voice.
It also just happens to be about poetry.
Every year, more than six hundred teenagers from over sixty Chicago area schools gather for the world’s largest youth poetry slam, a competition known as "Louder Than a Bomb". Founded in 2001, Louder Than a Bomb is the only event of its kind in the country—a youth poetry slam built from the beginning around teams. Rather than emphasize individual poets and performances, the structure of Louder Than a Bomb demands that kids work collaboratively with their peers, presenting, critiquing, and rewriting their pieces. To succeed, teams have to create an environment of mutual trust and support. For many kids, being a part of such an environment—in an academic context—is life-changing.
LOUDER THAN A BOMB chronicles the stereotype-confounding stories of four teams as they prepare for and compete in the 2008 event. By turns hopeful and heartbreaking, the film captures the tempestuous lives of these unforgettable kids, exploring the ways writing shapes their world, and vice versa. This is not "high school poetry" as we often think of it. This is language as a joyful release, irrepressibly talented teenagers obsessed with making words dance. How and why they do it—and the community they create along the way—is the story at the heart of this inspiring film.
For more information, contact ltab@siskeljacobs.com
NATE
- "In the way that he generously gives to others, cares for his family, acts as surrogate father or big brother or uncle for whoever needs him, and expresses himself with beauty and clarity, Marshall is an mensch. I've got maybe a dozen years on this kid and sat watching him in this film, jaw dropped, eyes moist, thinking to myself, 'I want to be Nate Marshall when I grow up.'" Matt Singer, IFC
- "Marshall displays prodigious talent, whipping out wordplay the way other kids punch out cell-phone texts, and doing it with a keen sense of wit."Robert Koehler, Variety
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