Every year, more than six hundred teenagers from over sixty Chicago area schools gather for the world’s largest youth poetry slam, a competition known as “Louder Than a Bomb”. It's the only event of its kind in the country, demanding that kids work collaboratively with their peers, presenting, critiquing, and rewriting their pieces. For many kids, being a part of such an environment — in an academic context—is life-changing.
LOUDER THAN A BOMB chronicles the stereotype-confounding stories of four teams as they prepare for and compete in the 2008 event. Poetry serves as an outlet for these students to capture their emotions and work through some very complex issues they face every day. While the topics they tackle are often deeply personal, what they put into their poems, and what they get out of them, is universal — the defining work of finding one’s voice.
Reviews
"After “Louder Than a Bomb” plays theatrically, it will air on the Oprah Winfrey Network. Why doesn’t Oprah consider it a pilot for a series? America’s Got Talent, all right, but maybe we’ve been looking for it in the wrong places." — Roger Ebert
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