The Newport Beach Film Festival will present a special screening of "Stories of an Undeclared War," a feature-length documentary about 150 at-risk students from Long Beach, California, who, encouraged by their teacher, Erin Gruwell, and inspired by the writings of teen authors, including Anne Frank, discovered a new way to express themselves and began to care more about history, humanity, and perhaps most importantly, their futures.
The film screening will be followed by a discussion and question and answer session with Erin Gruwell, educator and author of “Freedom Writers Diary.” Erin Gruwell’s “Freedom Writers Diary” will be available for purchase and signing following the program. A portion of the proceeds from the book sales will benefit the Freedom Writers Foundation.
This special film screening is presented by the Newport Beach Film Festival in conjunction with the Newport Beach Public Library’s year-long initiative, “Searching for Democracy.” “Searching for Democracy” is a statewide initiative, developed by Cal Humanities (formerly the California Council for the Humanities) in partnership with California Center for the Book, designed to animate public conversation on the nature and needs of democracy. Newport Beach Public Library was one of 51 public library recipients of a grant from Cal Humanities funding the “Searching for Democracy” program.
