Butterfly in the Sky (2024)
Director: Bradford Thomason, Brett Whitcomb Run Time: 87 min. Rating: NR Release Year: 2024
Starring: LeVar Burton
Country: United States
Language: English
About the film:
World Premiere, 2022 Tribeca Film Festival
Butterfly in the Sky (2024) tells the story of the beloved PBS children’s series “Reading Rainbow,” its iconic host LeVar Burton, and the challenges its creators faced in cultivating a love of reading through television.
“a heartfelt, beautiful celebration of one of the most influential educational children’s programs to grace our television.”
—Ethan Anderton, Slashfilm
Two seconds into the bubbling synth sounds of its theme song will have a child of the 1980s or ’90s exclaiming “Reading Rainbow!” Such is the beloved nature of the classic children’s literary television show that introduced millions of kids to the wonder of books. Not only did the series insist on having kids speak to kids about their favorite stories, Reading Rainbow introduced the world to one of the most adored television hosts of all time, LeVar Burton. Thanks to his direct, non-patronizing and, most importantly, kind delivery, Burton became a conduit to learning for children of every background — delving behind the pages to the people, places, and things each new story explored.
About the filmmakers:
Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb are a filmmaking team with a catalog that oscillates between archive-rich nostalgic portraits of pop culture and observational snapshots of under-explored cultures. Their acclaimed film GLOW: The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling premiered at Hot Docs Canadian Documentary Festival in 2012. A Life in Waves, which explores the life and career of electronic music pioneer Suzanne Ciani, premiered at SXSW in 2017. Their 2020 feature Jasper Mall, chronicling the day-to-day operations of a declining mall in Alabama, premiered at Slamdance. Their most recent feature, Butterfly in the Sky (2024) premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.
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