Screening at the Panida, Speak shows that hope can’t be silenced

By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff

In a cultural time and place where everyone is fighting to be heard, a group of high-schoolers show how courage, conviction and hope refuse to be silenced.

That’s the premise of Speak, a documentary following five students as they train and practice for the 2024 national championships in public speaking. Premiering at Sundance in 2025, the film shows how the kids navigate a backdrop of social and political turmoil — all of which inform their debate topics and how they approach the world.

Addressing difficult issues ranging from rising anti-LGBTQ policies to international conflict, the students tackle their research and competition head-on. In the process, Speak provides “the perfect antidote for these fraught times in America — intense, funny, and most of all, hopeful.”

As IndieWire put it, “It’s vital that storytellers like those found here continue striving for a platform and give voice to the marginalized whose own stories are so often drowned out in an endless sea of media chatter.”

Presented by the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force, Speak will screen for free on Wednesday, Sept. 30 at the Panida Theater (300 N. First Ave., in downtown Sandpoint).

Doors open at 6 p.m. and the film shows at 7 p.m.

Learn more at speakdocumentary.com.