STATELINE, Nev. – Sentenced, a new film narrated by Stephen Curry on illiteracy in America, will be shown Sunday at the Tahoe Blue Event Center as part of the Lake Tahoe Documentary Film Festival. The free showing at 12:45 p.m. will be followed by a panel discussion with one of the filmmakers and community leaders.

“The film … gives you a picture of basically, what it looks like for someone around the course of their life if they don’t get these fundamental reading skills,” said Melissa Uppendahl, executive director of the Marcella Foundation. “There are millions of Americans who, for whatever reason, are not reading. And so, what it does is it gets back to the core of the issue, which is that in our local schools and in our communities, one of the most powerful things that we can do to fight poverty is to teach children how to read.” 

The Marcella Foundation is sponsoring this impact event to elevate the problem of illiteracy and call people to act around it. The foundation’s mission is to make a difference in South Lake Tahoe through innovative programs in its three core pillars, feed, read, and lead. 

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In the Lake Tahoe Unified School District about 56% of children are not reading at grade level by third grade, Uppendahl said. Statewide in California and Northern Nevada, it’s closer to 60% of children aren’t reading at grade level by third grade. 

“We talk about third grade because … there’s this big thing that happens at third grade where you switch from learning to read to reading to learn,” Uppendahl said. “And that happens right at third grade. And if a child isn’t able to make that transition by that age … data shows us that there’s a 70% chance that they won’t ever get caught up.” 

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At that point, the education system takes off. 

“If you haven’t reached that point by third grade, you begin to fall further and further behind,” Uppendahl said. “And so that third grade, that (nine or) 10 years old … it’s really like a huge indicator of whether or not a child’s going to end up being successful in school.” 

Through raw, emotional storytelling, Sentenced pulls back the curtain on this crisis that affects millions of children in the U.S. 

“Seventy percent of those kids are from low-income families,” Uppendahl said. “… there’s a true intersection between poverty and adverse life experiences and a child’s ability to be able to read on time by third grade. And so that’s a huge piece.” 

Uppendahl said the foundation wants to support the whole family getting out of poverty and creating a better life. Currently, 43,000,000 adults can’t read well enough to get a basic job, according to the film’s trailer. 

“What we’re saying is that if we can make sure that all children are reading by third grade, we’re going to have an impact on generational poverty,” Uppendahl said. 

Curry’s Unanimous Media presents Sentenced, an immersive and vulnerable exploration of the epidemic of childhood illiteracy through a series of braided character driven stories. Sentenced is filmed from the point of view of ethnically diverse adults and children who have never learned to read. 

“At the end of the film, it ties it back into basically the solution to this, like really the problem of adult illiteracy is making sure that children can read,” Uppendahl said. “People should go see this because they will be inspired to help our community, to help children in our community have the best life that they possibly can live.” 

Uppendahl said Sentenced is not a film for children to view. 

“Wow, that was a hard film to watch,” Uppendahl said when asked what people will say after watching Sentenced. “Like this is not an easy film … they’ll say that it was a hard film to watch, but they feel inspired and hopefully empowered to do something about these issues.” 

The 70-minute film shows this is a national issue. It spans demographics, Uppendahl said. 

With the star power of the four-time NBA champion and his businesswoman, chef, restaurateur and actress wife, Ayesha, the Curry’s are elevating this issue to the national level. 

“They’re bringing Sentenced to Tahoe because we want people to know that we face these same issues here,” Uppendahl said. “But what’s cool I have to say about being in a small town is that … we can do something about this because the numbers of children that are facing this are in the hundreds in our community and not the thousands. We can actually make a measurable impact in a small community like Tahoe on this issue.” 

Following the documentary, there will be a panel discussion to share insights on literacy and explore ways to break the cycle of illiteracy. It will be moderated by Uppendahl. 

Panelists include: 

· Lucy Martin, co-producer of Sentenced and impact director at the Children’s Literacy Project

· Adam Eynon, director of dual enrollment and student outreach at Lake Tahoe Community College 

· Valerie Mansfield, board president of the Lake Tahoe Unified School District 

· Ravyn Smith, senior vice president, marketing and development at United Way of Northern Nevada and the Sierra 

Sentenced is directed by Connor Martin and Mark Allen Johnson. Erick Peyton, Jeff Martin, and Stephen and Ayesha Curry are the producers. The other co-producer is Nick Moon. The executive producers are Tony Kriz, Brian Ivie, and Kalyna Kutny. 

To watch Sentenced on Peacock or the film’s trailer, go to https://sentencedfilm.com/ 

To reserve a free ticket to see Sentenced on Sunday, go to https://ltdff.eventive.org/schedule/66bf8e04d6e11a0079fd1082 

For information on the Lake Tahoe Documentary Film Festival, go to https://ltdff.com/about 

For information on the Marcella Foundation, go to https://www.marcellafoundation.org/

To volunteer with the Children’s Literacy Project, go to https://takeaction.childrensliteracyproject.org