HELLO, BOOKSTORE: JULY 22, 23 & 24

July 15, 16, 22 and 23 at 7:30pm • Sunday, July 17 and 24 at 4:15 and 7:30 • IU Fine Arts Theater • Purchase Tickets

“Hello, bookstore,” is how Matthew Tannenbaum has answered the phone at his Lenox, Massachusetts independent shop every day since 1976. Tannenbaum’s passion for stories runs deep. Charming, avuncular and eccentric, he is a man surrounded by great literature, friendly neighbors, and tree-lined streets in a town where time seems to have stood still.

Documentarian A.B. Zax captures the sensibility of dedicated readers for whom a bookstore is a tiny piece of paradise, a Brigadoon where one savors great words and ideas merely by browsing its wares. Hello, Bookstore is a magical beatnik gem, a valentine to human creativity of both the literary and entrepreneurial kind. When the pandemic renders bookstores off-limits, Tannenbaum needs to regroup, and Zax’s story becomes even more inspiring. 86 minutes

Compelling and heartwarming. Worthy of Hollywood magic created by Frank Capra and Jimmy Stewart.” – Thomas Farragher, The Boston Globe

presented in part by Morgenstern’s Bookstore and Village Lights Bookstore (in Madison, Indiana)