Akeelah and the Bee
An inspirational drama, Akeelah and the Bee is the story of Akeelah Anderson (Keke Palmer), a precocious eleven-year-old girl from south Los Angeles with a gift for words. Despite the objections of her mother Tanya (Angela Bassett), Akeelah enters various spelling contests, for which she is tutored by the forthright Dr. Larabee (Laurence Fishburne); her principal Mr. Welch (Curtis Armstrong) and the proud residents of her neighborhood. Akeelah’s aptitude earns her an opportunity to compete for a spot in the Scripps National Spelling Bee and in turn unites her neighborhood who witness the courage and inspiration of one amazing little girl.

Scrabylon
Scrabylon is an award-winning, critically-acclaimed documentary on the cutthroat world of tournament SCRABBLE®. Featuring the most fierce anagrammers, rack balancers, and bingo experts in competitive SCRABBLE®, Scrabylon delves deep into this sometimes wacky, sometimes odd, always compelling subculture. Shot primarily during the World SCRABBLE® Championships in Las Vegas, Scrabylon features players from around the globe and gives an up-close look at why people get so obsessed with that seemingly benign game played at countless kitchen tables.

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Spellbound
Spellbound follows eight teenagers on their quest to win the 1999 National Spelling Bee.
Every spring since 1925, Scripps Howard newspapers sponsor spelling bees at grade schools across the U.S. Ten million kids competed in 1999. This documentary follows eight of them as they win regional bees and prepare for the national contest in D.C. They're from big cities, suburbs, and small towns. We watch them practice, we hear their views on study, competition, victory and defeat. We meet their families: two have single parents, three are children of immigrants. Once in D.C., we watch them compete and listen to their parents between rounds. Each is engaging, all are talented, and one might win it all. In America, says one immigrant dad, hard work brings success.

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Word Wars
Directed by Eric Chaikin and Julian Petrillo.
Take the bright, competitive and quirky kids in "Spellbound," the marvelous documentary about the national spelling bee. Now imagine some of those youngsters as grown-ups, add profanity, drug use and bad facial hair, and you have a rough idea of what "Word Wars" is like. Tracking four Scrabble fanatics as they travel from tournament to tournament and eventually reach the U.S. nationals in San Diego, the film is a thoroughly entertaining and hilarious look at a board game that's an occasional amusement for some -- and a serious obsession (or disturbing addiction) for others.
-- John McMurtrie

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Wordplay
Witness the inner workings of Will Shortz, NY Times Editor and NPR Puzzle Master, and his brilliant, entertaining and often hilarious contributors as well as surprising celebrity fans. Wordplay takes us through the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament where almost five hundred competitors battled it out for the title "Crossword Champ" and showed their true colors along the way.

US/Canada only - for international orders go here.