BY KAREN BOSSICK

The Sun Valley Film Festival will pull a curtain back on the world of the spoken word on Thursday when it presents “Speak” at The Argyros.

The film, which follows five top-ranked high school oratory students as they spend a year crafting spellbinding performances, will be shown at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, June 12, at the Ketchum theater.

The film about the dream of winning one of the world’s largest, most intense public speaking competitions, is said to be an inspiring exploration of ambition, resilience and the power of words, according to Alex Reif in Laughing Place.

“(Speak) pulls at our hearts with great vigor, whether it be through tears or righteous anger,” said David Opie in Indiewire.

The film received its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, shining a spotlight on the National Speech and Debate Association Nationals, considered the Super Bowl of public speaking.

It features the daughter of a Nigerian immigrants, a teenage girl who lives in rural Texas with her developmentally disabled brother, and a gay boy who has been mercilessly cyber-bullied. A young man whose mother died by suicide advocates for the dignity of assisted suicide in his speech, and a young woman who emigrated from Sudan with her Muslim parents when she was 2 prepares a speech about “Sesame Street’s” lessons for American society.

Blaine County students 18 and younger will receive complimentary admission by clicking on the code “Student” when checking out. Tickets for others are $20, available at https://svffyearround.eventive.org/schedule/.