Orem, UTAH (ABC4) — UVU Professor Dr. Jenny Mackenzie’s new documentary, The Right to Read, was produced by Reading Rainbow host, LeVar Burton. It premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in February and is set to premiere in Salt Lake City.

LeVar Burton, the producer and host of “Reading Rainbow” produced The Right to Read. According to a press release, The Right to Read examines low literacy rates among children in the United States, the issues leading to the low rates, and what remedies are being done.

The documentary is about an NAACP activist and educator, Sabrina Causey, and two families with young children fighting curricular changes to improve child literacy. Causey is an elementary educator in Oakland, California. NAACP is The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Burton told the Los Angeles Times in a recent article, “Literacy is at the heart of our democracy. And if you can’t read, you can’t access anything and function in a democracy.”

The film will be screened on Wednesday, March 15, at 7 p.m. at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center in Salt Lake City. It is free to attend, and tickets are available on the Utah Film Center’s website. There is a reception before the screening at 6 p.m.

“This has been a humbling experience, and I truly feel as though this non-partisan issue of illiteracy across America and my little film will have a big impact in turning the tides,” Mackenzie said.

Dr. Mackenzie,  assistant professor of digital cinema production at Utah Valley University has produced films promoting social change, including Kick Like a Girl, Sugar Babies, Lead With Love, Dying in Vein: The Opiate Generation, and the 2018 Emmy Award-winning film Quiet Heroes, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

To learn more or watch The Right to Read, visit https://www.therighttoreadfilm.org/.