2025 has been a great year for movies, but an upcoming documentary could wind up being the most important film of the year. The year has already seen several great thrillers, action films, and comedies, but as the seasons turn cooler, the best films of 2025 that will dominate the awards season begin to be released.

Oscar movies are often some of the most important of the year, telling dynamic stories about different kinds of people. These stories tend to be less blockbuster-driven and focus on examining pertinent themes. Many of the discussions around these films help to shape the culture in necessary ways.

Each year, a handful of smaller releases have the chance to impact in necessary ways by confronting some of the most important themes that affect the real world. Following 2024’s best documentaries, a new film is leading the charge around an essential discussion of book banning and censorship.

The Librarians Discusses The Importance Of Media Access

A new film enтιтled The Librarians takes a look at several librarians across the United States who have stood up against censorship and book banning. Contending with groups including Moms For Liberty, who have worked to limit access to works that they deem inappropriate or pornographic, several library workers, including Carolyn Foote and Suzette Baker, have spoken out.

These discussions have escalated in recent years, with many turning to their local and state governments in order to gain control of the reading material available, especially in schools. The trailer for the film news sees several people ironically condemning how schools are pushing an agenda, all the while attempting to push one of their own.

Books are such an important part of growing up in the contemporary world, and many young readers have found their development influenced significantly by various works. Books have provided children with the opportunity to see the world differently and have ᴀssisted in contending with components of their personhood, especially related to race and Sєxuality.

The film debuted at Sundance earlier this year, and currently holds a 94% rating from 19 critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Much of the film’s focus takes place in Texas, with state lawmaker Matt Krause’s 850-book list, which he has attempted to have removed from school libraries.

This list has included numerous books that deal with idenтιтy and race. This includes non-fiction works like How Prevalent Is Racism in Society?, by Peggy J. Parks, and Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, making it clear that much of the agenda behind this inciting incident is about removing and ignoring white culpability in younger readers.

The list also includes graphic novels about sparking rebellion, including Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta, and novels like Jesse Andrews’ Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. With a plethora of works on gender idenтιтy included, and these campaigns being picked up by other states, the librarians in the film find themselves within a battle against ideological control.

Using the law to ban access in any environment is concerning, but the new film shows how resistance to that agenda has been put up by several regular, working American librarians. Chronicling the story and the struggles inherent to this conflict, the new film looks to tell a severely important story, and to inspire others to join this essential cause.

Could The Librarians Be An Oscar Nominee?

With such a warm reception to such surprisingly contentious topics, The Librarians could wind up being one of the best and most important documentaries of the year. However, whether or not it will contend for any awards at the upcoming Oscars is another question entirely.

Movies like American Factory and even Citizenfour have some points of comparison among the Oscar-winning documentaries of the past. American Factory uses a similar on-the-ground approach to show the human side of things, just like The Librarians, and Citizenfour confronts important themes of information access in its story about Edward Snowden.

With that said, the Best Documentary category is one of the most difficult to predict in the Academy Awards. With a selective body choosing the nominations, oftentimes some of the more specifically important films are left out of the running. Documentaries like Hoop Dreams from 1994 and perceived 2018 frontrunner Won’t You Be My Neighbor were snubbed in the category.

The Librarians has a great deal in common with the Oscar-snubbed Boys State, which captured an important picture of tensions in contemporary America. That film had a catchier hook, as it captured youth and their feelings around politics and democracy in miniature, but The Librarians might be an even more important film.

What is most important is that The Librarians is able to make an impact with audiences. The film chronicles the importance of media access in the United States and how that is slowly coming under fire. The new movie tells an important story and will be released on October 3rd.