A new film celebrating a small town bookstore.
Now Streaming and In Theaters
In the shadow of adversity, a small town rallies to protect a beloved local bookstore in its hour of need. A landmark in Lenox, Massachusetts, The Bookstore is a magical, beatnik gem thanks to its owner, Matt Tannenbaum, whose passion for stories runs deep. Presiding at The Bookstore for over forty years, Matt is a true bard of the Berkshires and his shop is the kind of place to get lost in. This intimate documentary of The Bookstore and the family at its heart offers a journey through good times, hard times and the stories hidden on the shelves.
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“Richly moving and almost transcendental. A salute to the sacramental qualities of art that are threaded through everyday life.”
Owen Gleiberman, Variety
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“A tribute to the love of reading and the pleasures of a smartly stocked bookstore. Tannenbaum’s fondness for his store and its wares is a beautiful thing to behold.”
Lisa Kennedy, The New York Times
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“A valentine to human creativity, of both the literary and entrepreneurial kind."
Karen Cooper, Director, Film Forum
An INTRO by Neil Gaiman
In celebration of Independent Bookstore Day, the great Neil Gaiman sat down and recorded a special introduction to the film, that played exclusively at Film Forum. He speaks to his love of independent bookstores and his love of John Crowley’s Little, Big, a novel celebrated in HELLO, BOOKSTORE.
READING LIST
The following are read from in the film:
Wendell Berry, Prayers and Sayings of the Mad Farmer
Willa Cather, My Ántonia
Leonard Cohen, Beautiful Losers
Billy Collins, On Turning Ten
John Crowley, Little, Big
Gustave Flaubert, November
Robert Frost, Good Hours
Donald Hall, String Too Short to Be Saved
Laurie Lee, Cider with Rosie
Edna St. Vincent Millay, Souvenir; Travel; My Heart, Being Hungry
Philip Roth, The Human Stain
Maurice Sendak, Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life
William Shakespeare, Henry V
Elizabeth Smart, By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept
Jane Smiley, The Worth of a Bookstore
Richard Zukowski, Dragonfly Days