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Presented as part of the first annual Mic Check Poetry Fest with Iowa City Poetry

All tickets just $5!

PLEASE NOTE: this event will be full capacity with enhanced wellness protocols in place requiring either a 72-hour (or less) negative COVID-19 test or documentation of a vaccine card in lieu of a negative COVID-19 test for each individual 12 or older attending.

"The sheer breadth of talent is so astonishing, and the rhymes so clearly from the heart, that our spirits are inevitably lifted." —Keith Uhlich, Chicago Time Out

This is a film about passion, competition, teamwork, and trust. It’s about the joy of being young, and the pain of growing up. It’s about speaking out, making noise, and finding your voice. It also just happens to be about poetry. 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.” Founded in 2001, Louder Than a Bomb is the only event of its kind in the country—a youth poetry slam built from the beginning around teams. Directed by Greg Jacobs and Jon Siskel, Louder Than a Bomb chronicles the stereotype-confounding stories of four teams as they prepare for and compete in the 2008 event. By turns hopeful and heartbreaking, the film captures the turbulent lives of these unforgettable kids, exploring the ways writing shapes their world, and vice versa. This is language as a joyful release, irrepressibly talented teenagers obsessed with making words dance. How and why they do it—and the community they create along the way—is the story at the heart of this inspiring film.