Picture : (L-R) Gill Furniss MP, Kim Snyder, Amy Shepherd – meeting at the UK Parliament in June 2025
“Censorship isn’t just a distant threat. It’s a present risk here in the UK, and around the world” – Gill Furniss MP
Think-Film joined The Librarians ahead of its international premiere at the Sheffield Documentary Film Festival in June 2025. Working on an incredibly tight timescale, within five working days we landed 3 mainstream media features, onboarded the support of former librarian and chair of the APPG on Libraries Gill Furniss MP, and secured targeted social media promotion valued at €5k+.
- The film was featured as the lead piece in The Guardian Bookmarks June 2025 Newsletter, with an interview with director Kim Snyder and the above quote from Sheffield MP Gill Furniss, highlighting it in the festival window as critically timely and resonant for UK audiences.
- Index on Censorship, whose leading research has highlighted book bans and restrictions in the UK, interviewed director Kim Snyder for their quarterly magazine; this feature was be boosted again on social media during Banned Books Week in October 2025, providing key marketing support for The Librarians’ UK theatrical release.
- The Sheffield University Centre for Freedom of the Media reviewed the film in a wider piece on book censorship in the UK, adding further heft to its UK media presence. This can be read here.
- Think-Film also directly authored a press release landing the messages of the film strongly in the UK context, which was posted on our website and shared on our social channels, reaching a highly relevant film industry and wider issue-interested audience.
- Following the festival, we facilitated an advocacy meeting in Westminster for director Kim Snyder with Gill Furniss MP, which inspired Gill to consider activating a UK Parliament debate on censorship-free education, recognising this as a presently under-addressed topic in national political attention.
- In the course of our work, we engaged 80+ relevant stakeholders, broadening the film’s international network and creating valuable connections that could be later leveraged for meaningful action and film promotion.
Before The Librarians released in the UK, public narrative framed book bans as a US culture-war issue. With Think-Film’s strategic media and stakeholder engagement, the issue narrative has now expanded from moral panic to structural censorship critique. Mainstream press and high-level political affiliation with the film has legitimised pre-existing voices of concern on these issues, broadened the coalition of people paying attention, and added powerful momentum, leading to – in recent months – UK library professional bodies re-asserting anti-censorship guidelines, and cultural and education bodies discussing freedom-to-read protections.
