DETROIT – Keith Famie’s short film “A Day in the Life of Elijah Craft,” which chronicles how learning to read changed Elijah’s life, is one of the films featured in the highly prestigious IMDb-qualifying New Hope Film Festival in New Hope, Penn. that runs from July 20 to 29.

The star of the film is Elijah, a young Detroiter who learned to read by participating in a reading tutoring program offered by Beyond Basics, a child-centered, literacy focused nonprofit organization.

“Illiteracy is the most curable epidemic facing our country today. Beyond Basics hopes to use this film to broaden the effort to shed a spotlight on the national literacy crisis and the solution we provide to combat the problem,” said Pam Good, president of Beyond Basics. “A child who struggles to read becomes an adult who struggles. By teaching our most vulnerable children to read with our proven program, Beyond Basics breaks the cycle of generational illiteracy.”

“I never had someone who helped me with the basics,” said Elijah Craft, a 6’6” 18-year-old who graduated from Central High School in Detroit, Mich. “All of my life I wanted to do something with my reading and now I can walk around the neighborhood without a problem. I didn’t want to be the one left behind.”

Film: A Day in the Life of Elijah – Film trailer

Date: Thursday, July 26 at the Students’ Afternoon Matinee

Time: 2:45 – 5:15 p.m.

Location: New Hope Arts Center 2 Stockton Ave., New Hope, Penn.

Purchase Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/profile/63422

Executive Producer: Keith Famie, founder of Visionalist Entertainment Productions, a Michigan-based production company dedicated to making socially-conscious documentary films that help enrich lives

About the New Hope Film Festival:

The New Hope Film Festival’s core mission is to discover and nurture independent filmmakers, many of whom are seeking world and U.S. debuts and remain overlooked and/or underappreciated by other forums. The New Hope Film Festival operates by a strict code of fairness: Festival organizers do not invite films into the Festival, offer fee waivers, allow personal pitches from filmmakers, distributors and/or their agents, or sanction any other practices they consider preferential treatment. All films are treated equally in the process, which begins by submitting through Withoutabox.com. This highly prestigious, IMDb-qualifying Festival is especially renowned for the quality of its lineup.