ABOUT THE FILM

LOGLINE

When a thriving, top-ranked Chicago African American elementary school is threatened to be closed and replaced by a new high school that favors the community’s wealthier residents, parents, students and educators fight for the elementary school’s survival.

LONG SYNOPSIS

LET THE LITTLE LIGHT SHINE is about a high-performing, top-ranked African American elementary school in Chicago, The National Teachers Academy (NTA), which is threatened to be closed and transformed into a high school favoring the needs of the community’s wealthier residents. Parents, students, and educators mobilize to fight for the elementary school’s survival.

The story follows everyday parents-turned-organizers, alongside NTA students and staff, as they advocate to keep their elementary school which is a safe haven for children and a community bedrock in Chicago’s fastest growing neighborhood, The South Loop.

The film also posits the point-of-view of residents in favor of changing NTA into a high school that is sorely needed for its neighborhood. The theme of gentrification is rarely viewed through this lens of education, where “well-intentions” can be critically viewed as privileged desires, creating a disconnect dividing and reshaping communities across the country.

Under-resourced schools across the United States have been closed due to underperformance, but LET THE LITTLE LIGHT SHINE tells a unique story of a high-performing school with a 100% graduation rate potentially being shuttered for the benefit of a higher social strata.

Director Kevin Shaw

Producers Kevin Shaw, Rachel Dickson

Executive Producers Steve James, Sally Jo Fifer
Executive Producers for American Documentary | POV Erika Dilday, Chris White
Executive Producer for Black Public Media Leslie Fields Cruz

Supervising Producer Michael Kinomoto

Consulting Producer Noland Walker

Editor Kevin Shaw

Cinematographer Kevin Shaw

Sound Rachel Dickson

Music Kahil El’Zabar

Cast Elisabeth Greer and Family, Niketa Brar, Teneka Brooks, Isaac Castelaz, Chance the Rapper, Olive Cosey, Tina Feldstein, John Jacoby, Audrey Johnson and Family, John “J.P.” Pointer, Amy Rome, Yaa Agyena, Marieyea Crawford, Taylor Wallace, and the families and educators at National Teachers Academy

FESTIVALS
2022: True/False (World Premiere), SXSW EDU, Thessaloniki International Documentary (International Premiere)

AVAILABLE TERRITORIES
The World

EXHIBITION FORMATS
DCP, Digital Download