Film Streams Presents Two Documentaries on Censorship and Racial Justice

Two documentaries screening at Film Streams this month invite audiences beyond passive viewing into active engagement with urgent contemporary issues, from library censorship to personal reckonings with racial justice.

Casey Logan, managing director at Film Streams, emphasized that in disorienting times, films can provide meaningful ways to engage, connect and reflect on the choices and conversations that shape our shared future.

“The Librarians,” directed by Kim A. Snyder, screens Thursday, Oct. 9, at the Ruth Sokolof Theater in North Downtown. The documentary takes viewers inside America’s public libraries, where battles over books and information access have become increasingly contentious.

Snyder follows librarians as they navigate book challenges, political pressure and rising disinformation. The film portrays both dedicated professionals and an institution under attack, as libraries face attempts to restrict access and reshape what communities can read.

Film Streams will present the screening in collaboration with Omaha Public Library and The Write Stuff, a local group working to ensure book access in schools and libraries. The event takes place during Banned Books Week, a national campaign celebrating reading freedom and spotlighting ongoing censorship. A panel discussion will follow the screening.

“My Omaha,” a deeply personal documentary from filmmaker Nick Beaulieu, makes its theatrical world premiere at Film Streams on Tuesday, Oct. 14. What begins as Beaulieu’s attempt to chronicle Omaha’s racial justice movement in 2016 soon turns inward, becoming a story about family, community and connection across painful divides.

The film follows Beaulieu as he documents activism across the city while reckoning with his upbringing in Omaha’s predominantly white suburbs. Simultaneously, he faces reconnecting with his staunchly conservative father, Randy, who has been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

Beaulieu develops a powerful relationship with Leo Louis II, a community organizer and former board president of the Malcolm X Memorial Foundation, whose leadership helps frame the film’s exploration of conflict, discord and reconciliation.

The premiere includes a special Reel Talk Pro screening and discussion featuring Beaulieu and Louis on Tuesday, Oct. 14. Daily showtimes run Oct. 17-23 in the Dundee Theater’s Linder Microcinema.

Logan noted that both documentaries illuminate issues as present now as they have ever been, asking audiences to consider both the country we are today and the one we’re becoming. The films remind viewers that the future is shaped not only by actions taken but also by inaction, encouraging participation rather than passive observation.

More information and tickets are available at FilmStreams.org.

This story is part of the weekly “Pass the Popcorn” segment on KVNO’s Arts Today, featuring film commentary from Film Streams.