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PBS has officially set Monday, October 7 at 10pm, for the broadcast TV premiere of the 2012 acclaimed SXSW documentary Brooklyn Castle.

I was there for its SXSW premiere; I saw it; I loved it. You can find my review of the film here.

But before that scripted remake happens, see the original documentary on PBS, assuming you haven’t already. It enjoyed a limited theatrical release, and Netflix carries in. So you have options.

Brooklyn Castle (directed by Katie Dallamaggiore) is a documentary about I.S. 318, an inner-city public school that’s home to the most-winning junior high school chess team in the country. But a series of deep public school budget cuts now threaten to undermine its hard-won success.

Directed by Katie Dellamaggiore, Brooklyn Castle has its national broadcast premiere on October 7, 2013 at 10 pm (check local listings) on the award-winning PBS documentary series POV (Point of View). The film will also stream on POV’s website, www.pbs.org/brooklyncastle, from October 8- November 6, 2013. 

The film is part of the new PBS INDIES SHOWCASE, a four-week series of independent documentaries airing on Monday nights from Sept. 30-Oct. 21.

Via press release from PBS, meet the 5 students the film follows:

  • Justus Williams, 11 years old, is a prodigy, already one of America’s highest-ranked young chess players. Yet he is plagued by a tendency to freeze, stymied by the expectations created by his success.
  • Thirteen-year-old Rochelle Ballantyne, who broke the gender line of what had been an all-boys chess club, has the potential to become the first African-American female master in the history of chess. She is the first-ranked player in the school.
  • Pobo Efekoro, 12, is the big, boisterous, warm-hearted leader of the team. When the school’s budget for afterschool programs is cut, he runs for school president with the goal of mobilizing a student protest to get the cuts restored.
  • Twelve-year-old Alexis Paredes’ approach to chess is like his play—meditative and thoughtful. The second-ranked player at I.S. 318, he sees chess as a way to an education and a lucrative career that will allow him to support his Paraguayan immigrant family.
  • Patrick Johnston, 11, is a sensitive beginner who wants to raise his ranking to middle level. He has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and has taken to chess to develop concentration and patience. 

Brooklyn Castle is a production of Rescued Media in association with Indelible Marks and Chicken and Egg Pictures. The film is part of American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen, a national public media initiative made possible by CPB to identify and implement solutions to the dropout crisis and help parents and teachers keep students on the path to a successful future.

Watch PBS’ preview of the film below: