About
About Free for All:
Inside the Public Library
FREE FOR ALL: Inside the Public Library is a multi-platform media project about the American public library and what it means to our country. It is told through the voices of some of the millions of Americans who use their local libraries every day, along with those of generations past who forged the library’s starring role in the public commons.
FREE FOR ALL seeks to inspire, entertain, and spark dialogue and engagement as communities debate the future of their public libraries.
The cornerstone of FREE FOR ALL is a feature-length documentary film intended for PBS broadcast. The film is a contemporary road trip to libraries across the United States, intercut with outstanding and rarely seen archival material. Its structure juxtaposes two revolutionary moments in the American library story – the original “Library Movement” that swept the country in late 19th century, and current early 21st century struggle to bring public libraries into the digital age. It will be a rollicking and visually stunning mosaic of faces, architecture and stories that celebrates the diversity of the American library experience past and present, while investigating the urgent issues libraries face today.
FREE FOR ALL is a production of Bay Area-based Serendipity Films and is led by Producer/Director Dawn Logsdon and Executive Producer Stanley Nelson. Their team includes Emmy award-winning and Oscar-nominated colleagues whose historical and contemporary social issue films have received wide exposure and acclaim over the past thirty years. Read more about the team here.