SPEAK. follows five fearless teenage orators fighting for glory at the NSDA Nationals — the Super Bowl of public speaking — where 1,000 words can change everything. Over nine high-stakes months, they face nerves, biased judges, and each other, while their coaches battle to keep speech programs alive amid budget cuts, book bans and an America splintering right before their eyes.

Meet Noor, a small-town Texan wielding her voice for disability rights; Noah, a sharp-witted outsider turning personal tragedy into a plea for mental health awareness; Sam, a proudly queer Minnesotan calling out our political culture’s obsession with nostalgia; Mfaz, a Sudan-born TikTok sensation challenging stereotypes about Muslim representation and “lunchbox shame”; and Esther, the reigning two-time champ chasing a record-breaking three-peat. Together, they follow in the footsteps of NSDA alumni like Oprah Winfrey, Paul Rudd, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, Justice Stephen Breyer, Bruce Springsteen, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Jordan Peele to name a few — and in Esther’s case, attempt to dethrone the current record holder and the film’s Executive Producer, Josh Gad.

They rehearse in kitchens, classrooms, buses, even beside a pet pig, while still being teenagers: screaming at Taylor Swift concerts, managing TikTok fame, navigating crushes, awaiting college letters. One moment they deliver inspired indictments and insights; the next, they’re debating prom outfits.

Equal parts competition documentary, coming-of-age narrative, and rallying cry, SPEAK. is a hopeful wake-up call: for these fraught times, programs like this aren’t extracurricular luxuries. They’re training grounds for empathy, critical thinking and the courage to bridge divides — the stuff that might just make America listen again.

JOIN US AFTER THE SCREENING FOR A Q&A FEATURING CASTMEMBER MFAZ AND DIRECTOR GUY MOSSMAN!

English | 1 hr 43 mins

Generously Sponsored by Raymond J. Dowd of Dunnington Bartholow & Miller LLP