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  • The best documentaries of 2022

    Variety

  • The best movies of 2022 (you may have missed)

    The Guardian

  • what a treat this film is

    The Guardian

  • beautiful to behold

    The New York Times

  • makes me smile just to think about

    Little White Lies

  • A poignant portrait of small town life

    The Times, London

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.

  • “Richly moving and almost transcendental. A salute to the sacramental qualities of art that are threaded through everyday life.”

    Owen Gleiberman, Variety

  • “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

  • “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