A moving and evocative drama, written by, directed by and starring Emilio Estevez, and also starring Alec Baldwin, Taylor Schilling and Christian Slater, 'The Public' takes place in downtown Cincinnati during a particularly bitter winter where an Arctic blast has made its way to the front doors of the Public Library - where most of the film’s action takes place.
The story revolves around the library patrons, many of whom are homeless, mentally ill and marginalised, as well as the exhausted and overwhelmed staff of librarians who have not infrequently built emotional connections with these regular patrons, along with a sense of obligation to care for them. At odds with library officials as to how to handle the extreme weather, the patrons turn the building into a homeless shelter for the night by staging an 'Occupy' sit-in.
What begins as an act of civil disobedience becomes a stand-off with police and a rush-to-judgement by media who keep speculating about what's really happening. This David versus Goliath story tackles the incredibly challenging issues of homelessness and mental illness and sets the drama inside one of the last bastions of democracy-in-action: your public library.