READING ROOM, THE

A lonely widower fulfils his late wife’s dream and inadvertently fulfils the dreams of strangers by bringing a sense of self-respect to a crime-infested community.

When Helen Campbell (Lynne Moody, General Hospital) dies, she leaves her wealthy husband William (Emmy and Golden Globe winner James Earl Jones, Star Wars) with a last request that he turn an empty building they own into a community reading room filled with the books from their own personal library. But a lot has changed in the once middle-class Oakdale since William grew up there decades ago. It’s now a depressed neighbourhood full of abandoned dreams and street kids, like Stephon (Idris Muhammad, Angel: One More Road to Cross) who uses the computer only for games, Leesha (Monique Coleman, Boston Public) and Cloret, who cruise the place for free soda and hairstyle magazines, and Javier (Douglas Spain, Star Maps), a thug who’s only looking for trouble. Oakdale’s high school principal dismisses the town as a lost cause, but William doesn’t surrender. This is his beloved wife’s dream, and besides, the Reading Room has at least three visitors with promise: Darrell, a brilliant seventeen-year-old student desperate to get into college and two frustrated children, Majoli (Gabby Soleil, Johnson Family Vacation) and Edgar (Austin Noah Marques, American Family), all hampered by reading disabilities they’re struggling to overcome.

Even when Javier and his gang vandalise the Reading Room, William refuses to be intimidated. At the request of a local reverend who’s wary of big business and developers who exploit, William acquires books that speak to the diversity of the community. He helps to improve Darrell’s SAT scores, makes Majoli and Edgar’s reading dreams come true, and gives Javier self-respect by hiring him as a security guard. Golden Globe winner Diana Weston (Golden Globe winner Joanna Cassidy, Who Frammed Roger Rabit?), a determined and devoted teacher, is impressed with William’s perseverance. Her passion has been tested by preoccupied parents, uncaring students, and jaded faculty alike, but she is comforted by William’s strength. Then one night, the Reading Room is gutted by arson, and just when William fears that everything he’s accomplished has gone up in smoke, Oakdale bands together to make reality out of Helen’s lifelong adage: Bring all the love you can and there’ll be no room for hate.

An inspiring and uplifting film for the family, The Reading Room proves how one life can immeasurably change the lives of so many others and in so many extraordinary ways.