Four weeks from today, Americans will go to the polls and cast their vote for the next President of the United States. And while the issue of gun violence hasn’t been a major topic at the debates or campaign, a new documentary hopes to remind people that it’s an issue still worth addressing.

“Newtown,” focuses on the 2012 mass shooting in a small Connecticut town that killed 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary. Directed by Kim Snyder, who spent three years making the film, “Newtown” examines the trauma of the event on a community-wide level. She interviews teachers and first responders, as well as parents of the murdered children. Some of them, such as Mark Barden, have become vocal advocates for safer gun laws.

“Newtown” also analyzes how difficult it has been to change those laws, even after the worst grade-school shooting in American history — an event that many believed would be the tipping point in the controversy.

As Mark Barden told The Frame, he thinks it still will be that tipping point, but the process of cultural change is slow. John Horn met with Barden — who lost his 7-year old son, Daniel, in the shooting — and filmmaker Kim Snyder at the Sundance Film Festival following the film’s world premiere.

INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS

What it was like for both of you to watch the film with an audience at the premiere? That was the first time you’ve seen the film with a large crowd — is that right?

What was it like for you, Kim?

Mark, what about for you?

Kim, I want to ask you a little bit about your initial idea to approach the families of the children who were killed at Sandy Hook. What were the first conversations like, and was it hard to get people to agree? How important was it that you have the voices of the parents who lost their children?

Mark, most people who come to the Sundance Film Festival are trying to start their filmmaking careers. There are a lot of people who do nothing but go to parties. You are here not only with “Newtown,” but also “Under the Gun,” another documentary about gun violence. I’m just curious what the experience has been like to be at a festival that is so celebratory, when you’re here with two movies about the most awful things that can happen to a parent.

It certainly feels like it is top of mind for some people, and certainly for the President of the United States. And yet, as your film and “Under the Gun” point out, for all of the outrage and the grief, it seems as if in many ways the states that are changing gun laws, are changing to make guns more accessible. So I’m curious about how you think that conversation is changing, and what you take away about what can and might be able to change.

Kim, if the film succeeds in the way in which you intend, what are the next steps? What kinds of conversations and actions does it prompt?

What do you think a film can do that the parents of the victims of any shooting, or the relatives or the loved ones of any shooting, can’t do? What does it add to the conversation? Mark, if you’re going back to Washington, or the film is going back to Washington, is there a different nature of the impact?