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Monday, August 19
 

7:30pm CDT

Alabama Film Spotlight Night: Alabama Shorts Spotlight sponsored by Elite Hands Massage
Buy Tickets
This is a special presentation of some Alabama-made short films. There will be a brief intermission between the narrative shorts and the documentary shorts. This shorts block will end with a Q&A with any filmmakers in attendance.

NARRATIVE

Gritted
Directed by Allison Reynolds
8 minutes ● USA
Autumn, a teenage girl, will do whatever it takes to “fix” her crooked teeth.

October 31st
Directed by Laurel Taylor
13 minutes ● USA
Something goes wrong for a group of friends at a Halloween party.

Jetty
Directed by Logan Lanier
13 minutes ● USA
Alex, a whimsical child, sneaks out of her house in search of the perfect hiding spot.

DOCUMENTARY

A Day And Two Hours Late
Directed by Greg Womble
18 minutes ● USA
Three friends recall the night they served as entourage for gonzo journalist Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, and how it changed them forever.

Anthem for the Middle-Aged Band
Directed by Rebecca Pugh
10 minutes ● USA
A local band that broke up comes back together after nearly 20 years.
Filmmakers
AR
AR
GW

Greg Womble

Writer, Director, WOMCOM LLC
Greg Womble is a Birmingham, Ala.-based writer whose background includes theatre, television, film, radio and new media. VISITOR TO VIRGIN PINES, a short film he wrote and directed, was accepted into the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival for 2013. Greg is co-writer of DANG THAT... Read More →
LT
avatar for Logan Lanier

Logan Lanier

Jetty is Logan’s first professional production since making a number of student films at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. His thesis, Sister, a short film about two sisters who struggle with an abusive father, screened at the Azalea Film Festival, Tampa Bay Underground... Read More →

Monday August 19, 2019 7:30pm - 8:32pm CDT
Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema (A & B)
  Shorts Block, Documentaries and Narratives
  • Spotlight Alabama
  • Filmmaker Scheduled to Attend Yes
  • Trailer No trailers found
 
Tuesday, August 20
 

7:30pm CDT

Life & Liberty Spotlight Night: special preview screening of The Peanut Butter Falcon
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After running away from a residential nursing home to pursue his dream of becoming a pro wrestler, a man who has Down syndrome befriends an outlaw who becomes his coach and ally.

The Life & Liberty sidebar is sponsored by First Church Birmingham.
Filmmakers
TN

Sponsors
avatar for First Church Birmingham

First Church Birmingham

First Church Birmingham
An historic church in the heart of downtown Birmingham, First Church Birmingham is an open place for ALL to worship, grow, and serve. We are a diverse congregation made up of people from all over the Birmingham metro area and beyond.


Tuesday August 20, 2019 7:30pm - 10:00pm CDT
Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema (A & B)
  Feature, Narrative
 
Wednesday, August 21
 

7:30pm CDT

Shout LGBTQ Spotlight Night: special preview screening of Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street
Buy Tickets
Since its 1985 release, “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2,” with its overt innuendo, leather bars, and a show-stopping dance number, has been called “the gayest horror movie ever made.” This reputation caused long-lasting damage to the film, but more significantly to the its then-closeted star Mark Patton, who had not signed up for being outed. “Scream, Queen!” tells the story of Patton, the tragic turn his life faced during the homophobic Reagan-era 1980s, and his unexpected resurgence in recent years. — Kyle McKinnon

The SHOUT Film Festival is sponsored by AIDS Alabama.
Filmmakers
RC

Sponsors
avatar for AIDS Alabama

AIDS Alabama

AIDS Alabama
AIDS Alabama devotes its energy and resources statewide to helping people with HIV/AIDS live healthy, independent lives and works to prevent the spread of HIV.


Wednesday August 21, 2019 7:30pm - 10:00pm CDT
Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema (A & B)
  Feature, Documentary
 
Thursday, August 22
 

5:30pm CDT

Filmmaker + Sponsor Kick-off Reception
Check out the aweseome views of the Historic Theatre District from the rooftop of the beautiful Kress Building. Catering from Rusty's BBQ and Cocktails from our friends at Coopers' Craft. Plus, Cahaba Brewing Co. beers and Yellow Tail wines.

This is event is open to all lanyard holders.
Thursday August 22, 2019 5:30pm - 8:30pm CDT
Kress Building TBA
  Party

7:30pm CDT

Black Lens Spotlight Night: The Remix: Hip Hop x Fashion
Buy Tickets
"Women in hip hop fashion don't always get the light or credit we deserve,” observes April Walker in this excellent documentary. Because hip hop is seen as a male dominated genre, often the contribution of women in hip hop fashion goes ignored. “The Remix: Hip Hop x Fashion” explores the challenges experienced and the impact made by stylist Misa Hylton and fashion designer April Walker. This film highlights these women, along with cultural influencers Kerby Jean-Raymond and Dapper Dan. Their looks styled hip hop’s greatest artists, influenced music videos and created a visual conversation that not only challenged society but made it recognize hip hop had more to say. — T. Marie King
Filmmakers
avatar for Lisa Cortés and Farah X

Lisa Cortés and Farah X

Cortes FIlms
Excited to screen The Remix: Hip Hop X Fashion with Birmingham. Happy to discuss fashion, hip hop, the importance of representation and being proud of who you are."


Thursday August 22, 2019 7:30pm - 10:00pm CDT
Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema (A & B)
  Feature, Documentary
 
Friday, August 23
 

9:30am CDT

We Talk with Ondi Timoner
This is a FREE event but an RSVP is required. Please click here to make your reservation.

WeTalk is a talk show about the women currently shaping our culture. This show features female luminaries across film, media business and tech discussing the biggest issues of our day.

Created and hosted by award-winning filmmaker and entrepreneur Ondi Timoner, this series brings together the brightest women change-makers blazing new paths with the objective of turning #MeToo into #WeDo!

9:30 - 10:00am
Welcome Drinks & Breakfast


10:00 - 10:25am
Docs in a New [Spot]Light

This panel will look through the eyes of women on the front lines of documentary filmmaking.

Carol Amorin- Co-director, Queen of Lapa
Dr Rachel Ramist- Documentarian, Professor, Director




10:40 - 10:25am
Reshaping Representation

This panel will look at how female filmmakers are pushing the boundaries of their craft.



Virginia Newcomb- Actor, The Death of Dick Long
Amy Hobby- Executive Director- Tribeca Film Institute
Melodie Sisk- Producer, Actor, Director



11:20 - 11:45am
There's a New Boycott in Town

This panel will take a look at the recent boycotts on Georgia and Alabama for passing polarizing bans on abortion, and the impact on the film community. 



Jen West- Filmmaker from Alabama
Molly Coffee- Creative Director of Film Impact Georgia and local production designer
Stacey Davis- Alabama Filmmaker, Entertainment Attorney



12:00 - 12:25pm
Always in Season

Given that Birmingham is known for the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, this WeTalk will explore how that history bleeds into the present by looking through the lens of the 2019 Sundance documentary, Always in Season.

Jacqueline Olive- Director, Always in Season



Moderators
OT

Speakers
MC

Molly Coffee

Creative Director, Film Impact Georgia
Molly Coffee emerged as an award-winning filmmaker in the DIY stop-motion and puppet scene in Atlanta which segued pretty naturally into a career working in the art department on studio pictures.
AH
VN

Virginia Newcomb

Actor
Virginia Newcomb is an actor and filmmaker born of Memphis, student of Strasberg and Hollywood counter culture, and player of New York live-cinema productions by the innovative Jay Scheib.
RR
MS

Melodie Sisk

Producer, Actor, Director
Melodie Sisk is an actor, producer, and director who is happily involved in a community of progressive, politically active filmmakers, like those represented by Film Impact Georgia.
JW

Jen West

Writer/Director
Jen West is known for writing and directing short indie films like PIECE OF CAKE, CRUSH, BUBBLE, LITTLE CABBAGE, and the St. Paul and the Broken Bones' music video CALL ME

Filmmakers
avatar for Jacqueline Olive
avatar for Stacey Davis

Stacey Davis

Attorney/Filmmaker, The Law Firm of Stacey A. Davis/Under The Couch Entertainment
Entertainment lawyer; Filmmaker

Sponsors
avatar for Carrigan's Public House

Carrigan's Public House

Carrigan's Public House
Airy, industrial spot with a patio & roof deck for upscale pub fare, craft beer & cocktails.
avatar for Red Mountain Theatre Company

Red Mountain Theatre Company

Red Mountain Theatre Company
Cozy playhouse with modern flair showcasing familiar musicals, classes for kids & master classes.

Friday August 23, 2019 9:30am - 12:30pm CDT
RMTC Cabaret Theatre
  Panel

5:00pm CDT

Opening Night Pre-Party (INVITE ONLY EVENT)
Friday August 23, 2019 5:00pm - 7:30pm CDT
Roots & Revelry
  Party

8:00pm CDT

Opening Night: I Want My MTV sponsored by Kinetic
Buy Tickets
The Opening Night Film will be preceded by a short film called Lost Weekend.

Lost Weekend
Directed by Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb
Documentary / USA
14 minutes
In 1984, two friends from small-town Pennsylvania win an MTV contest and the chance to party with Van Halen for 48 Hours.

Opening Night Film: I Want My MTV

Directed by Tyler Measom and Patrick Waldrop
Documentary / USA
On August 1, 1981 an innovative new channel burst onto the rising spectrum of cable TV offerings. It became a touchstone for young people and a new format for musicians and filmmakers to show off their talents. I Want My MTV examines the channel's early days and its deep cultural impact. Director Tyler Measom and Original MTV VJ, Alan Hunter scheduled to attend.
Filmmakers
TM

Sponsors
avatar for Kinetic Communications

Kinetic Communications

From fresh, visually appealing web design and custom application development to search engine optimization and advanced analytics, we help clients understand and apply the latest internet technologies to compete.


Friday August 23, 2019 8:00pm - 10:00pm CDT
Alabama Theatre
  Feature, Documentary

10:00pm CDT

Opening Night After Party
After the movie, the MTV vibes will continue at the Opening Night Block Party, on 3rd Ave. N., directly outside of the Alabama Theatre. Dance to classic MTV videos, enjoy some late night snacks and drinks from Yellow Tail Wines, Cahaba Brewing Company, Absolut and Cooper's Craft (complimentary bar for VIP pass holders, cash bar for all other pass holders). Opening Night Sponsored by Kinetic Opening Night Access is provided to all VIP, Weekend and Opening Night Day Pass Holders.
Friday August 23, 2019 10:00pm - Saturday August 24, 2019 1:00am CDT
3rd Ave. N. (Block Party)
  Party
 
Saturday, August 24
 

9:30am CDT

Acting Out Workshop (morning)
Buy Tickets
This is a separately ticketed event. To register, visit www.actingoutacademy.com
Sponsors
avatar for Acting Out Academy

Acting Out Academy

Acting Out Academy
Acting Out Academy is the premiere on-camera acting academy in the greater Birmingham, Ala., area. The six-year-old academy focuses on contemporary, on-camera acting, offering classes, audition coaching and taped auditions for kids and adults, along with on-camera private lessons... Read More →

Saturday August 24, 2019 9:30am - 11:30am CDT
ASFA Health & Wellness Room
  Workshop

10:00am CDT

Saturday Kids Shorts
Buy Tickets
This block is great for older kids (elementary school and up).

Age of Bryce
Directed by Brian Elliott and David Feagan
10 minutes • USA
Smothered by an adoring, over-protective mom, 12-year-old Bryce Yancy Paul (Bip) is pushed to the brink of pubescent revolution.

The Things that Unite Us (AL Film)
Directed by Allison Reynolds
16 minutes • USA
When a young girl, Caroline, moves into a new house with her family, she encounters a poltergeist.

Adulthood
Directed by Daniel Kiwacka
8 minutes • USA
A young girl finds out on her thirteenth birthday that the monster under the bed isn't just a tall tale made up by parents.

WATCH ME!
Directed by Rezan Mahranfar
8 minutes • Iran
A little boy lives in a world full of Anxiety and fear. A fear that does no mining to others. The normal world is in progress but everything for him is loneliness and darkness.

Old Scout
Directed by Christian Strevy (AL Film)
12 minutes • USA
Christian Strevy quit the Boy Scouts 20 years ago and has regretted it ever since. This is his attempt to complete the entire curriculum of Boy Scouts, from Cub Scout to Eagle Scout. In 1 year.
Filmmakers
AR
BE
avatar for Christian Strevy

Christian Strevy

My name is Christian Strevy. I was born in Birmingham, Alabama, Heart of Dixie, USA. Roll Tide. Although there are many legends as to the origin of the surname “Strevy,” it is most likely from the land of Prussia. That’s Prussia with a “P.” Growing up, my mom thought it... Read More →
DK
DF
RM

Saturday August 24, 2019 10:00am - 10:51am CDT
McWane Center Rushton Theatre
  Shorts Block, Narrative

10:00am CDT

Clementine
Buy Tickets
“Clementine” follows Karen, who's in her twenties and fresh off a break up with an older woman. She holes up in her ex's lake house, where she meets Lana, a precocious teenage girl. The two form a strange bond, with each seeking some sort of validation from the other. The movie speaks most poignantly in moments with little to no dialogue, and the lush backdrop only enhances the story's sense of being adrift. — Brit Blalock
Filmmakers
LJ


Saturday August 24, 2019 10:00am - 11:33am CDT
Birmingham Museum of Art
  Feature, Narrative

10:00am CDT

Mike Wallace Is Here sponsored by Birmingham-Southern College
Buy Tickets
Beyond just a biopic focused on Mike Wallace (though that in itself would be captivating enough), “Mike Wallace Is Here” conveys the broader story of television journalism through the ages, drawing a line showing how we got here. This is done not through contemporary traditional interviews, but via the careful curation and skillful editing of archival footage. All that said, the opportunity to witness Barbara Streisand call Mike Wallace a “son of a bitch” should be enough of a selling point! — Rachel Morgan

Screenings in the Alabama Theatre are proudly presented by This Is Alabama.

Filmmakers
AB

Sponsors
avatar for This is Alabama

This is Alabama

This is Alabama as it should be told. Join us as we celebrate the great state of Alabama and uncover the amazing people, places and experiences she has to offer. This is Alabama will share daily videos, photos and articles that tell real stories about our innovators, natural wonders... Read More →


Saturday August 24, 2019 10:00am - 11:34am CDT
Alabama Theatre
  Feature, Documentary

10:00am CDT

We Believe in Dinosaurs sponsored by ExcursionsGo.com
Buy Tickets
Thirty-eight percent of Americans believe in the story of Creation as described in the Bible. In rural Kentucky stands a monument to this belief system: the Ark Encounter, a taxpayer-funded museum housed within a massive recreation of Noah’s Ark that looks to reconcile Christian creationist belief with the fossil record and provide a dubious counterargument to secular science like the theory of evolution. This chilling and timely documentary examines this ongoing culture war through one of its most prominent battlegrounds. — Corey Craft

The Life & Liberty sidebar is sponsored by First Church Birmingham.

Speakers
avatar for ExcursionsGo.com

ExcursionsGo.com

ExcursionsGo.com

Filmmakers
avatar for Clayton Brown

Clayton Brown

Co-Director, 137 Films
We make films about the intersection of science and culture, and about America's strange relationship with science.
ML


Saturday August 24, 2019 10:00am - 11:38am CDT
First Church of Birmingham
  Feature, Documentary

10:00am CDT

Shorts: Alabama Drama
Buy Tickets
Intermedium
Directed by Erik Bloomquist
20 minutes • USA
An obsessive-compulsive teenager struggles to learn the value of compromise while adjusting to her new home (and butting heads with the ghost of the boy who haunts it).

Hidden Gem (LIFE AND LIBERTY)
Directed by Abigail Louise Jones
13 minutes • USA
A couple encounters a woman in mysterious circumstances and tries to help.

First Position (SHOUT)
Directed by Michael Elias Thomas
20 minutes • USA
In the early 1980s, Zachary Campbell, a young, aspiring dancer moves to San Francisco.

Mothers
Directed by Ben Rand
7 minutes • USA
In the late 90's, an alienated young boy named 'Bug' drifts through his memories while his grandmother Evelyn tries to help him come to terms with their shared trauma.

Unborn Rivers of Sky
Directed by Brian Ratigan
3 minutes • USA
Images randomly selected. Poem written without images. Music written without images or words.

Danse Macabre
Directed by Jeb Brackner
8 minutes • USA
Strange visions of death plague a young dancer’s mind just before her big performance.

Snakes In The Water
Directed by Henry Busby
13 minutes • USA
At dawn, a young man and a young woman debate the merits of skinny-dipping in potentially snake-infested waters of a secluded lake.

Up River
Directed by Jack Serra
17 minutes • USA
A young woman's killing spree is suddenly interrupted.

Washed Away
Directed by Ben Kallam
12 minutes • USA
A teenage girl in an evangelical church youth group must deal with the fallout when her trust is publicly betrayed.

Screenings in the Alabama School of Fine Arts multiplex are proudly sponsored by Birmingham Business Journal and ASFA.
Filmmakers
AL
BK
avatar for Ben Rand

Ben Rand

I'm a writer directer and I grew up in the south (born in Birmingham woohoo!) I currently live in Denver CO where I just graduated from Colorado Film School and gearing up for a move to LA! I love ping pong and movies!
avatar for Brian Ratigan

Brian Ratigan

Non Films
Brian Ratigan is an award-winning animator and director of stop motion films and experimental work. He is the founder of Non Films and is based in New York City. Ratigan serves as Director of Animation for Kumar Pictures, co-founded Atlanta production company Sugartooth Group, is... Read More →
avatar for Erik Bloomquist

Erik Bloomquist

Mainframe Pictures
Erik is a two-time New England Emmy® Award winner, eight-time nominee, and former Top 200 Director on HBO's Project Greenlight. His tongue-in-cheek, film noir-infused television series, The Cobblestone Corridor (for which Erik serves as showrunner and lead actor) is the winner of... Read More →
HB
JS
JB
avatar for Michael Elias Thomas

Michael Elias Thomas

Cinematographer/Director

Sponsors
avatar for Alabama School of Fine Arts

Alabama School of Fine Arts

Alabama School of Fine Arts
The Alabama School of Fine Arts is a partially residential public school authorized and funded by the Alabama Legislature to provide tuition-free instruction for impassioned students, grades 7-12. The school provides focused specialty instruction in Creative Writing, Dance, Mathematics... Read More →
avatar for Birmingham Business Journal

Saturday August 24, 2019 10:00am - 11:53am CDT
ASFA Dorothy Jemison Day Theater
  Shorts Block, Narrative

10:10am CDT

7th Annual Saturday Morning Cartoons
Buy Tickets
For the 7th year in a row Sidewalk programmers have compiled an awesome selection of 1980's and 90's cartoons and vintage Saturday morning commercials for the start of your Sidewalk weekend. To accompany the fun-packed screening there will be a free cereal bar, plus juice and coffee (and maybe even cold pizza). So launch into your Sidewalk 2019 weekend the right way, by loading up on carbs, crazy cartoon antics and good company. Fun for all ages! — Rachel Morgan

Screenings in the Red Mountain Theatre Company Cabaret Theatre are proudly sponsored by Carrigan’s Public House.

Saturday August 24, 2019 10:10am - 11:40am CDT
RMTC Cabaret Theatre
  Special Event
  • Country of Origin USA
  • Run Time 1h 30min

10:10am CDT

Only
Buy Tickets
This atmospheric slow-burn of a sci-fi story follows Will and Eva (“Hamilton’s” Leslie Odom Jr. and “Slumdog Millionaire’s” Freida Pinto), a couple struggling in the aftermath of a mysterious apocalyptic plague that kills women. While Will’s initial impulse is to quarantine Eva for as long as he can, she convinces him to take a chance and experience the outside world with her — even if it means facing the bands of hunters looking for surviving women. — Corey Craft

Screenings in the Alabama School of Fine Arts multiplex are proudly sponsored by Birmingham Business Journal and ASFA.

Filmmakers
avatar for Takashi Doscher

Takashi Doscher

Writer/Director
Takashi Doscher is an award-winning writer and director, caught between the worlds of scripted drama and cinematic documentary. His feature film, Only, starring Freida Pinto and Tony-winning Leslie Odom Jr premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival. Previously, his film, Still, starring... Read More →

Sponsors
avatar for Alabama School of Fine Arts

Alabama School of Fine Arts

Alabama School of Fine Arts
The Alabama School of Fine Arts is a partially residential public school authorized and funded by the Alabama Legislature to provide tuition-free instruction for impassioned students, grades 7-12. The school provides focused specialty instruction in Creative Writing, Dance, Mathematics... Read More →
avatar for Birmingham Business Journal


Saturday August 24, 2019 10:10am - 11:47am CDT
ASFA Lecture Hall
  Feature, Narrative

10:25am CDT

Shorts: Start Here
Buy Tickets
This bunch of shorts is great for shorts newbies and Sidewalk fans to watch films from some longtime friends of the festival and some filmmakers who are new to Sidewalk.

Watch Room
Directed by Noah Wagner
17 minutes • USA
Narrative short
Three computer scientists are developing artificial intelligence within a virtual reality environment, until the AI learns it's at risk of being shutdown, and turns the tables.

Princess Rita
Directed by Blair Waters
10 minutes • USA
Narrative short
A lonely insurance adjuster becomes consumed by his desire to meet his internet girlfriend.

Phantom 52
Directed by Geoff Marslett
8 minutes • USA
Narrative short
Tom Skerritt stars as a lonely trucker waiting for a reply on the CB radio.

By The Dark of Night
Directed by Farah White
9 minutes • USA
Narrative short
Two estranged sisters come back together while burying a body.

Nobody Likes You As Much As I Do
Directed by Jerzy Rose
15 minutes • USA
Narrative short
An American couple worries about the safety of a Parisian girl after a night out.

Fun More
Directed by Wally Chung
1 minutes • USA
Narrative short
A war of words leads to an epic standstill.

Brett Kavanaugh is Ruining My Sex Life
Directed by Kristin Slaysman
7 minutes • USA
Narrative short
A dark comedy about a liberal couple struggling to reinvent their sex fantasy in the days following the Kavanaugh hearing.

Norman Norman
Directed by Sophy Romvari
7 minutes • USA
Narrative short
As her 16-year-old Shih Tzu nestles next to her, a young woman spends a night surfing the internet and pondering the ethics of genetic replication, the possible pitfalls of animal immortality, and the eternal wonders of Barbra Streisand.

Adam and Eve Eat Again
Directed by Joel Fendelman
10 minutes • USA
Narrative short
Adam's late and Eve won't play his song, but now they must perform together and get along.

Dom
Directed by Meryl Jones Williams and Jane Stiles
16 minutes • USA
Narrative short
When Dom teases Beth to join her on her daily drug route, she tags along. Drawn back to each other, they avoid going home, even if it means rupturing an unspoken truth that lies between them.

Screenings in the Alabama School of Fine Arts multiplex are proudly sponsored by Birmingham Business Journal and ASFA.
Filmmakers
avatar for Blair Waters

Blair Waters

Director
Blair Waters is a Brooklyn-based director, originally from the Virgin Islands. Princess Rita is her first short film, and she's also a musician.
FW
GM
JS
JR
avatar for Joel Fendelman

Joel Fendelman

Director, Fendelman Films
With roots in Miami, Austin and New York City, Joel Fendelman has written, produced and directed a number of award-winning narrative and documentary films.Joel most recently received an IDA Documentary Award for his fourth feature film "Man on Fire", a documentary about a white Texas... Read More →
avatar for Kristin Slaysman

Kristin Slaysman

Explosive Bolts Films
avatar for Meryl Jones Williams

Meryl Jones Williams

Meryl Jones Williams (she / her b. 1986; Staten Island) is a multidisciplinary artist and activist residing in Brooklyn. She got her start as an actor and can be seen in some indie flicks and silly TV shows, but was ultimately unable to stomach the objectification within the industry... Read More →
avatar for Noah Wagner

Noah Wagner

Director
NOAH WAGNER is an award-winning director, writer and filmmaker, and a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. This is his second time at Sidewalk ("Fortissimo", 2014).Noah specializes in ‘grounded genre’ – everything from science fiction to magical realism, moody atmosphere... Read More →
avatar for Sophy Romvari

Sophy Romvari

Sophy Romvari is a filmmaker born in Victoria, B.C. and based in Toronto. Her critically-acclaimed short films have travelled the international festival circuit and have earned her a reputation as a leading young talent. Her filmmaking is mostly auto-ethnographic with a focus on processing... Read More →
avatar for Wally Chung

Wally Chung

animation, wally chung
Filmmaker

Sponsors
avatar for Alabama School of Fine Arts

Alabama School of Fine Arts

Alabama School of Fine Arts
The Alabama School of Fine Arts is a partially residential public school authorized and funded by the Alabama Legislature to provide tuition-free instruction for impassioned students, grades 7-12. The school provides focused specialty instruction in Creative Writing, Dance, Mathematics... Read More →
avatar for Birmingham Business Journal

Saturday August 24, 2019 10:25am - 12:04pm CDT
ASFA Recital Hall
  Shorts Block, Narrative

10:30am CDT

Black Lens Roundtable: Supporting Black Film
This roundtable discussion will explore the troubles and victories that black filmmakers face in writing, funding, making, and sharing their films with the world. Catch the films from our panelists in the Black Lens Shorts block on Sunday, August 25, at 5:30 in the ASFA Recital Hall and Iron Grit on Sunday at 3:05 in ASFA’s Dorothy Jemison Day Theatre.

Bryian Keith Montgomery Jr. is a filmmaker and grew up in Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California. He studied at California State University Northridge and graduated with a degree in Film Production. He founded the company Alternative Horror that focuses on taking current events and turning them into horror satire.

Ellie Foumbi is an actor/writer/director born in Cameroon, West Africa. She holds an MFA from Columbia University’s School of the Arts in Directing. Her award-winning short film, “Zenith”, was a 44th Student Academy Awards Semifinalist and a 2018 African Movie Academy Awards Nominee in the Best Short Film category.

Jamel Lajuan: Jamel Lajuan is a Film Director born in Birmingham, Alabama and started out in the film industry as a child actor in regional TV commercials and young model for magazines. Along with being a proud US Army combat veteran, Jamel Lajuan holds Masters Degree in Film & Media Production.

Darrien Michele Gipson is the Executive Director of SAGindie, an educational program that teaches independent filmmakers with limited budgets how to hire professional actors for their films. Darrien is an M.F.A. recipient from the Peter Stark Producers Program at the University of Southern California and was formerly the Vice President of Production for DEF Pictures. As Executive Director of SAGindie, Darrien is responsible for the strategic planning and oversight of the organization and acts as a liaison between filmmakers and SAG-AFTRA, the actors union.

This panel is free and open to the public - you do not need a festival ticket to attend.

Sidewalk’s educational programming is sponsored by Wind Creek Hospitality.
Moderators
DG

Speakers
avatar for Ellie Foumbi

Ellie Foumbi

Filmmaker
Ellie Foumbi is an actor/writer/director from Cameroon. She holds an MFA from Columbia University’s School of the Arts in Directing. She’s a Student Academy Awards Semifinalist and nominated for an African Movie Academy Award. She was invited to participate in New York Film Festival’s... Read More →
avatar for Wind Creek Hospitallity

Wind Creek Hospitallity

Wind Creek Hospitality
J
JL
avatar for Bryian Keith Montgomery

Bryian Keith Montgomery

Filmmaker, ALT-Horror
Bryian Keith Montgomery Jr. is an up-and-coming African American film director and LA native. He created the brand “Alternative Horror” in 2016 to infuse current events into his horror films, and highlight touchy issues in American culture through a unique lens.His previous short... Read More →

Saturday August 24, 2019 10:30am - 11:30am CDT
ASFA Gallery
  Panel

10:40am CDT

Mr. Temple and the Tigerbelles / The Well-Placed Weed: The Bountiful Life of Ryan Gainey sponsored by Dorothy McDaniel's Flower Market
Buy Tickets
Mr. Temple and the Tigerbelles
Directed by Tom Neff
40 minutes ● USA
Mr. Temple and the Tigerbelles is the story of legendary track and field TSU (Tennessee State University) coach Ed Temple and the incredible group of 40 African American female athletes who broke the color barrier of the Olympics during the Jim Crow era, snagging 23 medals, 16 of them gold, the most renowned of whom was Wilma Rudolf, who in Rome 1960 became the first American woman to win three gold medals in one Olympic.

The Well-Placed Weed
Directed by Steven Bransford and Cooper Sanchez
55 minutes ● USA
This documentary explores the life of celebrated garden designer Ryan Gainey.

The SHOUT Film Festival is sponsored by AIDS Alabama.

Screenings in the Alabama School of Fine Arts multiplex are proudly sponsored by Birmingham Business Journal and ASFA.
Filmmakers
TN

Sponsors
avatar for Alabama School of Fine Arts

Alabama School of Fine Arts

Alabama School of Fine Arts
The Alabama School of Fine Arts is a partially residential public school authorized and funded by the Alabama Legislature to provide tuition-free instruction for impassioned students, grades 7-12. The school provides focused specialty instruction in Creative Writing, Dance, Mathematics... Read More →
avatar for Birmingham Business Journal

Saturday August 24, 2019 10:40am - 12:15pm CDT
ASFA Black Box Theatre
  Shorts Block, Documentary

11:00am CDT

Wombsong
A pregnant dancer leads the audience to an imaginary world inside the womb.
Filmmakers
avatar for Hanna Västinsalo

Hanna Västinsalo

Director, Thinkseed
I did my Ph.D. in molecular genetics at the University of Helsinki and studied film directing at the American Film Institute Conservatory in Los Angeles, CA. I've directed several short projects, a virtual reality dance project, a feature documentary about a Finnish entrepreneur and... Read More →

Saturday August 24, 2019 11:00am - 11:07am CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Experimental

11:00am CDT

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back sponsored by Alpha Lumber
Buy Tickets
Three years after the destruction of the Death Star, Imperial forces continue to pursue the Rebels. After the Rebellion’s defeat on the ice planet Hoth, Luke journeys to the planet Dagobah to train with Jedi Master Yoda, who has lived in hiding since the fall of the Republic. In an attempt to convert Luke to the dark side, Darth Vader lures young Skywalker into a trap at Cloud City. In the midst of a fierce lightsaber duel with the Sith Lord, Luke faces the startling revelation that the Vader is in fact his father.

Screenings in the Lyric Theatre are proudly sponsored by the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Filmmakers
IK

Sponsors
avatar for Alpha Lumber and Supply Co., Inc.

Alpha Lumber and Supply Co., Inc.

Alpha Lumber and Supply Co., Inc.
Alpha Lumber & Supply in Montgomery is a full service building supply for both professional builders and individuals. Our goal is to provide quality lumber with professional service for every need from commercial and residendential projects, to remodeling, decks and privacy fences... Read More →
avatar for Greater Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau


Saturday August 24, 2019 11:00am - 1:07pm CDT
Lyric Theatre
  Feature, Narrative

11:00am CDT

XR Interactive (First Contact, Trover Saves the Universe Google Spotlight Stories, Easter Rising: Voice of a Rebel, Remembering, SPHERES, The Great C, Found, The Bond, Dispatch Eleven Eleven
Filmmakers
JR
LG
OR
OR
PO
RD
S
SM

Saturday August 24, 2019 11:00am - 7:00pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR

11:30am CDT

Close
An auditory experience that highlights the discomfort of unwanted sexual advances in the workplace.
Filmmakers
avatar for Richard Lin

Richard Lin

Visual Artist
Taiwanese visual artist born and raised in Southern California. (IG: @richardtaotaolin)

Saturday August 24, 2019 11:30am - 11:34am CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Narrative

11:30am CDT

Acting Out Workshop (afternoon)
Buy Tickets
This is a separately ticketed event. To register, visit www.actingoutacademy.com
Sponsors
avatar for Acting Out Academy

Acting Out Academy

Acting Out Academy
Acting Out Academy is the premiere on-camera acting academy in the greater Birmingham, Ala., area. The six-year-old academy focuses on contemporary, on-camera acting, offering classes, audition coaching and taped auditions for kids and adults, along with on-camera private lessons... Read More →

Saturday August 24, 2019 11:30am - 1:30pm CDT
ASFA Health & Wellness Room
  Workshop

11:40am CDT

Wonders of the World
Buy Tickets
Adapted from a feature-length screenplay by “Big Fish” author Daniel Wallace and produced by the students at the 2019 Afilm Camp, “Wonders of the World” tells the story of Mr. Morgan’s World of Wonders Family Circus and Traveling Orphanage. The orphaned carny kids seek a better life away from the circus, but they are afraid they won't fit in. A group of unlikely hero students from a nearby school band together with the carny kids to help them escape. — Scott Ross
Filmmakers
JR

Saturday August 24, 2019 11:40am - 12:25pm CDT
McWane Center Rushton Theatre
  Short, Narrative

11:50am CDT

En Machina
Two inventors, Steve and Steve, create the world's first true artificial intelligence in their garage.
Filmmakers
LB

Saturday August 24, 2019 11:50am - 12:03pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Narrative

12:00pm CDT

Scream Queen: My Nightmare on Elm Street
Directed by Roman Chimienti and Tyler Jensen
Documentary / USA
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/239374398">vimeo.com/239374398

Scream Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street sets the record straight about the controversial sequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street, which ended star Mark Patton’s acting career, just as it was about to begin. Scream Queen follows Patton as he travels to horror conventions across the United States. Each new city unwraps a chapter from his life that is met with equal parts joyful and bittersweet detail, as he attempts to make peace with his past and embrace his legacy as cinema’s first male “scream queen.”


Launched in 2006, SHOUT showcases features, documentaries, and short films that explore issues and situations involving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities. SHOUT is Alabama’s first queer film showcase and is proud to support the Magic City’s LGBTQ+ community by advocating for awareness, acceptance, and appreciation of diversity.

SHOUT Programming Sponsored by AIDS Alabama

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/239374398">vimeo.com/239374398
Filmmakers
RC


Saturday August 24, 2019 12:00pm - 2:00pm CDT
Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema (A)
  Feature, Documentary

12:15pm CDT

Wind and Water Balloons
Buy Tickets
Imagine finding out that your small Alabama town is the only one in the world that celebrates an annual and somewhat bizarre tradition. Follow along as filmmaker and Cordova native Jamie Jean documents his journey to uncover the origins of his hometown’s annual water balloon fight. Along the way, he discovers controversial claims of discrimination and racism in the wake of the 2011 tornadoes that devastated much of the town, yet didn’t dismantle the community’s pride. — Charlie Brown Sanders
Filmmakers
avatar for Jamie Jean


Saturday August 24, 2019 12:15pm - 1:48pm CDT
Birmingham Museum of Art
  Feature, Documentary

12:15pm CDT

Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am sponsored by Books-A-Million
Buy Tickets
As the title suggests, beloved author (see what I did there?) Toni Morrison is the focus of this comprehensive documentary. The film traces Morrison’s early years to present day, focusing on the most intriguing areas and experiences of Morrison’s life. Built around an interview with the author, the film also includes dozens of interviews with Morrison’s esteemed fans. Oprah confesses to being a Toni Morrison stalker; that alone should put you in a seat for this screening. — Rachel Morgan

The Life & Liberty sidebar is sponsored by First Church Birmingham.

Screenings in the Alabama Theatre are proudly presented by This Is Alabama.
Filmmakers
TG

Sponsors
avatar for Books-A-Million
avatar for This is Alabama

This is Alabama

This is Alabama as it should be told. Join us as we celebrate the great state of Alabama and uncover the amazing people, places and experiences she has to offer. This is Alabama will share daily videos, photos and articles that tell real stories about our innovators, natural wonders... Read More →


Saturday August 24, 2019 12:15pm - 2:15pm CDT
Alabama Theatre
  Feature, Documentary

12:20pm CDT

Fluchtpunkt
Tonight is the great vernissage, the first major exhibition of artist, Carlotta Carlsen, but what could be delaying her arrival?
Filmmakers
BB

Saturday August 24, 2019 12:20pm - 12:27pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Narrative

12:25pm CDT

80s Music Videos
Buy Tickets
Screenings in the Red Mountain Theatre Company Cabaret Theatre are proudly sponsored by Carrigan’s Public House.
Saturday August 24, 2019 12:25pm - 1:55pm CDT
RMTC Cabaret Theatre
  Special Event
  • Run Time 1hr 30min

12:25pm CDT

Markie in Milwaukee sponsored by Mark & Denise Gibson
Buy Tickets
Filmed over ten critical years, “Markie in Milwaukee” tells the deeply intimate story of Mark/Markie Wenzel, a fundamental Baptist preacher who sacrifices his relationship with his family and church to transition to life as a woman. Years later, struggling with living alone, she detransitions back to Mark in the hopes of winning back her family and congregation. A heart wrenching tale of one’s battle with faith and identity, it won a Special Jury Award at this year’s Slamdance. — Kyle McKinnon

The Life & Liberty sidebar is sponsored by First Church Birmingham.

The SHOUT Film Festival is sponsored by AIDS Alabama.
Filmmakers
avatar for Matt Kliegman

Matt Kliegman

Director, STEAMCLAM MEDIA
Directed and Produced the feature film "Markie in Milwaukee."

Sponsors
avatar for AIDS Alabama

AIDS Alabama

AIDS Alabama
AIDS Alabama devotes its energy and resources statewide to helping people with HIV/AIDS live healthy, independent lives and works to prevent the spread of HIV.
DA
avatar for First Church Birmingham

First Church Birmingham

First Church Birmingham
An historic church in the heart of downtown Birmingham, First Church Birmingham is an open place for ALL to worship, grow, and serve. We are a diverse congregation made up of people from all over the Birmingham metro area and beyond.


Saturday August 24, 2019 12:25pm - 1:57pm CDT
First Church of Birmingham
  Feature, Documentary

12:30pm CDT

Film Festival Secrets w/ Chris Holland
Since 2008 festival expert Chris Holland’s book “Film Festival Secrets” has been the filmmaker’s guide to the festival circuit. With the second edition of his book launching this Fall, join Chris, your fellow filmmakers, and fest programmers in attendance for a discussion of best submissions practices, the changing festival landscape, and the secrets to finding the right festivals for your film. Chris currently works as the Event Operations Manager for the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival and a consultant for independent filmmakers. This panel is free and open to the public - you do not need a festival ticket to attend.

Sidewalk’s educational programming is sponsored by Wind Creek Hospitality.
Speakers
CH
avatar for Wind Creek Hospitallity

Wind Creek Hospitallity

Wind Creek Hospitality

Saturday August 24, 2019 12:30pm - 1:30pm CDT
ASFA Gallery
  Panel

12:35pm CDT

Alabama Docs: Politics
Buy Tickets
Here we explore different aspects of Alabama’s complex politics.

Dawoud Bey: The Birmingham Project
Directed by Carroll Moore
11 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
A portrait of American photographer Dawoud Bey’s series that commemorates the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church.

Woke Vote
Directed by Lance Warren and Hannah Ayers
17 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
The inside story of how a preacher’s daughter from Birmingham assembled a team and strategy to send a Democrat to the Senate from Alabama for the first time in 25 years.

Druid City Strong
Directed by Blake Hudson
11 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
The story of the emergency workers who risked their lives to save countless others the day an EF4 tornado hit Tuscaloosa.

Walls of Jericho
Directed by Stacey Brannan, Logan Hames, and Michael Wolter
11 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Blighted Birmingham neighborhoods are a destination for both urban explorers and urban revitalizers.

The People of Climbing
Directed by Josh Greenwood
14 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Examining race, equity, representation and inclusion in America through the lens of the Color the Crag outdoor festival in Alabama.

Call Me
Directed by Megan Friend and Norris Davis
9 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
A tale of Alexander Shunnarah and his many, many billboards.

A Generation Drowning
Directed by Lauren Senwo and Nikita Udayakumar
9 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Student debt and college access weigh down today’s students and recent graduates.

Murder In Mobile
Directed by Adam Fischer
24 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Murder in Mobile is a film about race, murder, and one family's search for the truth 70 years later.

Screenings in the Alabama School of Fine Arts multiplex are proudly sponsored by Birmingham Business Journal and ASFA.

Filmmakers
AF
avatar for Blake Hudson

Blake Hudson

I am a freelance filmmaker currently finishing my Telecommunications and Film degree at the University of Alabama.
CM
HA
JG
LW

Lance Warren

Field Studio
We make media at the intersection of history and social justice.
LS
LH
avatar for Megan Friend
MW
NU
ND
SB

Sponsors
avatar for Alabama School of Fine Arts

Alabama School of Fine Arts

Alabama School of Fine Arts
The Alabama School of Fine Arts is a partially residential public school authorized and funded by the Alabama Legislature to provide tuition-free instruction for impassioned students, grades 7-12. The school provides focused specialty instruction in Creative Writing, Dance, Mathematics... Read More →
avatar for Birmingham Business Journal

Saturday August 24, 2019 12:35pm - 2:21pm CDT
ASFA Lecture Hall
  Shorts Block, Documentary

12:40pm CDT

See Me
An exploration of women reclaiming their sexuality from patriarchy.
Filmmakers
AR

Saturday August 24, 2019 12:40pm - 12:45pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Narrative

12:40pm CDT

American Identity: National Docs
Buy Tickets
All on a Mardi Gras Day
Directed by Michal Pietrzyk
23 minutes • USA
Documentary short
Demond sacrifices to be Big Chief in a secret 200-year culture known as Mardi Gras Indians, spending all year sewing feathered suits in a battle to decide who’s “the prettiest.”

A Normal Girl
Directed by Aubree Bernier-Clarke
14 minutes • USA
Documentary short
A Normal Girl brings the widely unknown struggles of intersex people to light, through the story of intersex activist Pidgeon Pagonis.

All Skinfolk Ain't Kinfolk
Directed by Angela Tucker
20 minutes • USA
Documentary short
The unprecedented story of two black women running for office as the first female mayor of New Orleans through the eyes of black women.

Walk with Pride
Directed by Kaela Waldstein
6 minutes • USA
Documentary short
Santa Fe Indian Market’s Haute Couture Fashion Show offers a contemporary view of evolving Native American and First Nation's identities.

F*** Your Hair
Directed by Jason Polevoi
38 minutes • USA
Documentary short
Latin-American immigrant owners of a fledgling brewery were approached by the Trump Tower to sell their beer, but after his remarks about immigrants, they take a stand.

Screenings in the Alabama School of Fine Arts multiplex are proudly sponsored by Birmingham Business Journal and ASFA.

Filmmakers
AT
AB
avatar for Jason Polevoi

Jason Polevoi

Director, One City Films
Jason Polevoi graduated from Columbia College Chicago's film and video program with honors in 2008. He has since worked on both national and local television shows in Chicago, Illinois and Atlanta, Georgia as a Producer, Director, and Editor. For his work in television Jason has won... Read More →
KW
avatar for Michal Pietrzyk

Michal Pietrzyk

Michal Pietrzyk was born in Poland, and emigrated to the US after his father’s imprisonment as a member of the anti-communist movement Solidarity. He’s produced over 130 hours of network TV for National Geographic, Discovery, and Travel Channel, specializing in intimate, character-driven... Read More →

Sponsors
avatar for Alabama School of Fine Arts

Alabama School of Fine Arts

Alabama School of Fine Arts
The Alabama School of Fine Arts is a partially residential public school authorized and funded by the Alabama Legislature to provide tuition-free instruction for impassioned students, grades 7-12. The school provides focused specialty instruction in Creative Writing, Dance, Mathematics... Read More →
avatar for Birmingham Business Journal

Saturday August 24, 2019 12:40pm - 2:20pm CDT
ASFA Dorothy Jemison Day Theater
  Shorts Block, Documentary

12:50pm CDT

Documentary Shorts: We're Complex
Buy Tickets
Explore the complexity of the human condition in these documentary shorts about relationships.

Meet Uncle Paul
Directed by Jessica Bursi
14 minutes • USA
Documentary short
Paul is 62-years-young, a lover of The Beatles, The Monkees, and The Terminator, and he happens to be living with Down syndrome.

Betty Feeds The Animals
Directed by James P. Gannon
9 minutes • USA
Documentary short
Betty loves animals, and everyday she puts 30 bowls of food outside to feed them.

Ài Bàba (Love Dad)
Directed by Connie Huang
6 minutes • USA
Documentary short
An intimate recording between a mother and her 7 year old daughter about divorce.

Love Birds
Directed by Ashley Mosher
8 minutes • USA
Documentary short
An American woman travels into the Amazon jungle, discouraged with her marriage, and on a quest for adventure.

Not Make Dreams Your Master
Directed by Theodore Collatos
8 minutes • USA
Documentary short
Eavesdrop on the cultural mash-up between a country group and a multicultural trio, who discuss everything from philosophy, gender, race, and confronting the void.

Better Man
Directed by Chris Stanford
14 minutes • USA
Documentary short
A father and son relationship is tested after a rodeo injury leaves the young cowboy in a hopeless situation.

The Shearer
Directed by Jeremy Seifert
15 minutes • USA
Documentary short
Jonathan Hearne is a master sheep shearer and one of the most sought after for his trade in the Southeast.

The Race
Directed by Dina Rudick
10 minutes • USA
Documentary short
A Huntington’s Disease researcher comes face-to-face with three generations of a family devastated by the fatal, incurable disease she studies.

Screenings in the Alabama School of Fine Arts multiplex are proudly sponsored by Birmingham Business Journal and ASFA.

Filmmakers
AM
CV
CS

Chris Stanford

Chris Stanford, Inc
avatar for Connie Huang

Connie Huang

Director
Connie Huang is an Asian-American filmmaker who grew up in Sterling Heights, Michigan and now lives in Brooklyn, New York. She is a member of the International Cinematographer Guild Local 600 and works as a professional camera assistant on feature films in NYC. She is an aspiring... Read More →
DR
avatar for James P. Gannon

James P. Gannon

Director
James P. Gannon is a freelance director, cinematographer, editor, photographer and illustrator living in Brooklyn, NY. He works commonly in the realm of independent cinema and the commercial production world.
JS
JB
avatar for Teddy Collatos

Sponsors
avatar for Alabama School of Fine Arts

Alabama School of Fine Arts

Alabama School of Fine Arts
The Alabama School of Fine Arts is a partially residential public school authorized and funded by the Alabama Legislature to provide tuition-free instruction for impassioned students, grades 7-12. The school provides focused specialty instruction in Creative Writing, Dance, Mathematics... Read More →
avatar for Birmingham Business Journal

Saturday August 24, 2019 12:50pm - 2:21pm CDT
ASFA Recital Hall
  Shorts Block, Documentary

1:00pm CDT

Goodbye Paradise
Learn first hand the devastating effects that climate change is having on a community on the Pacific Ocean.
Filmmakers
avatar for Scott E. Schimmel

Scott E. Schimmel

Scott E. Schimmel is a O‘ahu based environmental scientist and documentary filmmaker. His award winning work explores justice, the environment, and the enduring curiosity of the human spirit, and has been broadcast on public television and screened at festivals around the world... Read More →

Saturday August 24, 2019 1:00pm - 1:05pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Documentary

1:05pm CDT

Range Runners
Buy Tickets
A woman hiking a remote wilderness trail stumbles upon two desperate criminals hiding out in the forest. They get the jump on her and steal her backpack and supplies, leaving her injured, stranded and miles from help. But they messed with the wrong hiker; resolved to get back what’s hers, she and the two men enter a struggle with increasing stakes. “Range Runners” is a nifty, exciting thriller that grows steadily more tense and involving as it progresses. — Corey Craft

Screenings in the Alabama School of Fine Arts multiplex are proudly sponsored by Birmingham Business Journal and ASFA.

Filmmakers
PS

Sponsors
avatar for Alabama School of Fine Arts

Alabama School of Fine Arts

Alabama School of Fine Arts
The Alabama School of Fine Arts is a partially residential public school authorized and funded by the Alabama Legislature to provide tuition-free instruction for impassioned students, grades 7-12. The school provides focused specialty instruction in Creative Writing, Dance, Mathematics... Read More →
avatar for Birmingham Business Journal


Saturday August 24, 2019 1:05pm - 2:57pm CDT
ASFA Black Box Theatre
  Feature, Narrative

1:10pm CDT

Ocean Quest sponsored by Alabama Waldorf School
Buy Tickets
This lively documentary follows a group of junior high students who surprised the world by advancing to the semi-finals of the international Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE competition. Pitted against elite teams from prestigious research institutions and universities, the kids cope with adolescent life while trying to perfect their innovative solution to mapping the ocean floor. A showcase of innocent humor and competitive determination, the film demonstrates the rewards of persevering to the end. — Charlie Brown Sanders
Filmmakers
SV


Saturday August 24, 2019 1:10pm - 2:00pm CDT
McWane Center Rushton Theatre
  Feature, Documentary

1:20pm CDT

Everest - The VR film Experience
Follow Sherpa Tenji as he attempts to climb Mt Everest without the use of bottled oxygen.
Filmmakers
JG

Saturday August 24, 2019 1:20pm - 1:31pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Documentary

1:50pm CDT

Traveling While Black
Traveling While Black is a cinematic VR experience that immerses the viewer in the long history of restriction of movement for black Americans and the creation of safe spaces in our communities.
Filmmakers
RR

Saturday August 24, 2019 1:50pm - 2:08pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Documentary & Narrative

2:00pm CDT

Funding and Distribution for Short Documentaries w/ Amy Hobby
Description: Amy Hobby, Academy Award-nominated producer and the Executive Director of Tribeca Film Institute talks about why TFI started programs in the short form space and why you should make alternate length content. Topics covered include upcoming funding opportunities, the growing landscape of distribution for short films, why you should retain ownership of your copyright and why regional stories matter. This panel is free and open to the public. You do not need a festival ticket to attend.

Amy Hobby has served as the Executive Director of the Tribeca Film Institute for the past two years. In addition to her role identifying, engaging and supporting emerging underrepresented filmmakers from around the world through TFI, Hobby is an Academy Award-Nominated, Emmy and Peabody Award-Winning producer in her own right, who has been producing award-winning scripted and documentary films for the past 20 years.

Sidewalk’s educational programming is sponsored by Wind Creek Hospitality.

Speakers
AH
avatar for Wind Creek Hospitallity

Wind Creek Hospitallity

Wind Creek Hospitality

Saturday August 24, 2019 2:00pm - 3:00pm CDT
ASFA Gallery
  Panel

2:00pm CDT

Film Festival Alliance: Meet the Fests
THIS EVENT IS OPEN TO ALL FESTIVAL FILMMAKERS AND FFA PARTICIPANTS ONLY

FFA’s signature Meet the Festivals panel is an opportunity for filmmakers to meet attending festivals, and answer their burning questions about the festival process. The session at Sidewalk will include a Q&A from festivals to filmmakers – to learn what’s working, and how we can improve the process for them. Moderator: TBA
Saturday August 24, 2019 2:00pm - 3:30pm CDT
Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema (B)
  Panel

2:00pm CDT

Greener Grass sponsored by Revelator Coffee Company
Buy Tickets
One woman goes on a quest for suburban bliss in a picture-perfect community where all the adults have braces, spouses wear perfectly complementary outfits and everyone drives golf carts. “Greener Grass” marks the debut of improv comedians turned independent filmmakers Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe, who wrote, directed, and star in this surreal black comedy. It's silly, weird, hilarious, bizarre, uncomfortable and unpredictable — and destined to become a cult classic. — Charlie Brown Sanders

Screenings in the Lyric Theatre are proudly sponsored by the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Filmmakers
JD

Sponsors
avatar for Greater Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau
avatar for Revelator Coffee Company

Revelator Coffee Company

Revelator Coffee Company
Revelator is a coffee roaster and café operator with our roots in metro markets across the Southeast. While specialty coffee is the origin of our brand, we approach coffee from a broader culinary perspective. We empower regional leadership and F&B talent to create memorable caf... Read More →


Saturday August 24, 2019 2:00pm - 3:35pm CDT
Lyric Theatre
  Feature, Narrative

2:25pm CDT

Gloomy Eyes
Filmmakers
JT

Saturday August 24, 2019 2:25pm - 2:32pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Narrative

2:40pm CDT

Sidetalks Live
The Sidewalk Talk Podcast Track is sponsored by Boutwell Studios.

Screenings in the Red Mountain Theatre Company Cabaret Theatre are proudly sponsored by Carrigan’s Public House.

Sponsors
avatar for Boutwell Studios
avatar for Carrigan's Public House

Carrigan's Public House

Carrigan's Public House
Airy, industrial spot with a patio & roof deck for upscale pub fare, craft beer & cocktails.

Saturday August 24, 2019 2:40pm - 4:10pm CDT
RMTC Cabaret Theatre
  Special Event

2:40pm CDT

Vita & Virginia sponsored by I Love Picnics
Buy Tickets
It's the fascinating true story about the love affair between socialite and popular author Vita Sackville-West and literary icon Virginia Woolf.

The SHOUT Film Festival is sponsored by AIDS Alabama.

Filmmakers
CB

Sponsors
avatar for AIDS Alabama

AIDS Alabama

AIDS Alabama
AIDS Alabama devotes its energy and resources statewide to helping people with HIV/AIDS live healthy, independent lives and works to prevent the spread of HIV.


Saturday August 24, 2019 2:40pm - 4:30pm CDT
Birmingham Museum of Art
  Feature, Narrative

2:45pm CDT

By Kids For Kids
Buy Tickets
Check out these local short films made by kids for kids!

The First Day (AL Film)
Directed by Bailey Corley
8 minutes • USA
Three girls are excited about their first day of school and they want everything to be perfect.

Shake it Til You Make It (AL Film)
Directed by Whitt Shuemaker and Ben Swearigen
10 minutes • USA
Two kids embark on a long journey to a handshake contest.

Valleydale Broadcast (AL Film)
Directed by Jay Galloway
19 minutes • USA
The new kid shakes things up in the newsroom.


Bake it Off (AL Film)
Directed by Whitt Shuemaker and Ben Swearigen
10 minutes • USA
Who knew a slow-melting popsicle recipe could shake things up?

So You Think You Can’t Dance (AL Film)
Directed by Jay Galloway
17 minutes • USA
Who will win the dance competition?
Filmmakers
BC
BS
JG
WS

Saturday August 24, 2019 2:45pm - 3:49pm CDT
McWane Center Rushton Theatre
  Shorts Block, Narrative
  • Spotlight Family
  • Run Time 1hr 4min
  • Trailer No trailers found

2:45pm CDT

Feral
Buy Tickets
An estimated 60,000 people are experiencing homelessness in New York City. In this feature film, we follow Yazime, a young woman who lives in the abandoned subway tunnels below the city. Based on actual stories from formerly homeless individuals, “Feral” offers insight into a complex woman living in a difficult world. Through Yazime’s eyes, we see why individuals may choose to shun shelter to live on their own terms. — Charlie Brown Sanders

The Life & Liberty sidebar is sponsored by First Church Birmingham.

Filmmakers
AW

Sponsors
avatar for First Church Birmingham

First Church Birmingham

First Church Birmingham
An historic church in the heart of downtown Birmingham, First Church Birmingham is an open place for ALL to worship, grow, and serve. We are a diverse congregation made up of people from all over the Birmingham metro area and beyond.


Saturday August 24, 2019 2:45pm - 3:58pm CDT
First Church of Birmingham
  Feature, Narrative

2:50pm CDT

Girl Icon
Around the world, 130 million girls do not have the opportunity to go school. Meet Rani, a 17-year-old from Varanasi, India, who is part of a growing movement of fearless girls leading change in their communities.
Filmmakers
SE

Saturday August 24, 2019 2:50pm - 2:58pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Documentary

3:00pm CDT

Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge
Saturday August 24, 2019 3:00pm - 4:30pm CDT
Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema (A)
  Feature, Narrative

3:00pm CDT

The Birth of Cinema and the Art of Silent Film
Buy Tickets
The Alabama Chapter of the American Theatre Organ Society presents Nathan Avakian and the International Youth Silent Film Festival! Renowned organist Nathan Avakian will provide the soundtrack (via the Alabama Theatre’s Mighty Wurlitzer) for a historic silent short, then accompany a selection of contemporary short films from the International Youth Silent Film Festival, an organization that inspires young filmmakers to share their
stories as they reinvent the art of silent film.

Screenings in the Alabama Theatre are proudly presented by This Is Alabama.
Exhibitors
NA

Sponsors
TA
avatar for This is Alabama

This is Alabama

This is Alabama as it should be told. Join us as we celebrate the great state of Alabama and uncover the amazing people, places and experiences she has to offer. This is Alabama will share daily videos, photos and articles that tell real stories about our innovators, natural wonders... Read More →


Saturday August 24, 2019 3:00pm - 4:30pm CDT
Alabama Theatre
  Special Event
  • Run Time 1hr 30min

3:05pm CDT

National Narratives: Borders
Buy Tickets
This block explores the nature of boundaries - national, cultural, and personal.

What Happened To My Mother? (AL Film)
Directed by Camilo Diaz
2 minutes • USA
Narrative short
A portrait of child separations at the US-Mexico border.

Ni De Aqui, Ni De Alla
Directed by Carlos Valdivia
14 minutes • USA
Narrative short
Jose’s financial aid runs out a week before a prestigious interview that puts his future in jeopardy.

Dios Nunca Muere
Directed by Barbara Cigarroa
15 minutes • USA
Narrative short
The story of a mother struggling to raise her two children on her own.

Rehearsal
Directed by Courtney Hope Therond
8 minutes • USA
Narrative short
A film crew for an upcoming feature film pushes the boundaries of consent during a courtesy rehearsal for its female lead.

Road to Zion (Black Lens)
Directed by Andrew Reid
16 minutes • USA
Narrative short
A Jamaican immigrant finds his life in LA shaken by forces outside his control as he struggles to understand how far he is willing to go to protect his family.

Find Harbour For A Day
Directed by Paul Marques Duarte
25 minutes • France
Narrative short
When Adèle spontaneously lets a 15-year-old migrant illegally board a ferry for England with her class, she does not grasp the importance of her gesture and its consequences on this overnight trip.

Her Body
Directed by Juan Avella
10 minutes • USA
Narrative short
A Latina immigrant must face her abusive American boyfriend when she wakes up bound in a garage about to be sold to an underground body trafficking ring.

Screenings in the Alabama School of Fine Arts multiplex are proudly sponsored by Birmingham Business Journal and ASFA.

The Life & Liberty sidebar is sponsored by First Church Birmingham.
Filmmakers
AR
BC
CD
CV
CH
JA
PM

Sponsors
avatar for Alabama School of Fine Arts

Alabama School of Fine Arts

Alabama School of Fine Arts
The Alabama School of Fine Arts is a partially residential public school authorized and funded by the Alabama Legislature to provide tuition-free instruction for impassioned students, grades 7-12. The school provides focused specialty instruction in Creative Writing, Dance, Mathematics... Read More →
avatar for Birmingham Business Journal
avatar for First Church Birmingham

First Church Birmingham

First Church Birmingham
An historic church in the heart of downtown Birmingham, First Church Birmingham is an open place for ALL to worship, grow, and serve. We are a diverse congregation made up of people from all over the Birmingham metro area and beyond.

Saturday August 24, 2019 3:05pm - 4:35pm CDT
ASFA Lecture Hall
  Shorts Block, Narrative

3:05pm CDT

Iron Grit
Buy Tickets
Sixteen years after the Civil Rights Act was passed, public servants worked to dismantle the stigma of racial violence while pursuing unabridged equality in Birmingham, Ala. “Iron Grit” focuses on two pivotal characters: Richard Arrington and Bonita Carter. The tragedy surrounding Carter’s 1979 homicide inspired change across city government. Complete with interviews and raw footage, the documentary walks the audience through hardship and survival, showing how to put the pieces of a broken city back together. — Ashley B. Little

The Life & Liberty sidebar is sponsored by First Church Birmingham.

Screenings in the Alabama School of Fine Arts multiplex are proudly sponsored by Birmingham Business Journal and ASFA.

Filmmakers
avatar for Jamel Lajuan

Jamel Lajuan

Film Director, Jazuma Entertainment, LLC
Jamel Lajuan is an Independent Film Producer born in Birmingham, Alabama who started out in the film industry as a child actor in regional TV commercials and young model for magazines. After retiring from playing college sports and receiving an honorable discharge as a U.S. Army combat... Read More →

Sponsors
avatar for Alabama School of Fine Arts

Alabama School of Fine Arts

Alabama School of Fine Arts
The Alabama School of Fine Arts is a partially residential public school authorized and funded by the Alabama Legislature to provide tuition-free instruction for impassioned students, grades 7-12. The school provides focused specialty instruction in Creative Writing, Dance, Mathematics... Read More →
avatar for Birmingham Business Journal
avatar for First Church Birmingham

First Church Birmingham

First Church Birmingham
An historic church in the heart of downtown Birmingham, First Church Birmingham is an open place for ALL to worship, grow, and serve. We are a diverse congregation made up of people from all over the Birmingham metro area and beyond.


Saturday August 24, 2019 3:05pm - 4:52pm CDT
ASFA Dorothy Jemison Day Theater
  Feature, Documentary

3:15pm CDT

Wombsong
A pregnant dancer leads the audience to an imaginary world inside the womb.
Filmmakers
avatar for Hanna Västinsalo

Hanna Västinsalo

Director, Thinkseed
I did my Ph.D. in molecular genetics at the University of Helsinki and studied film directing at the American Film Institute Conservatory in Los Angeles, CA. I've directed several short projects, a virtual reality dance project, a feature documentary about a Finnish entrepreneur and... Read More →

Saturday August 24, 2019 3:15pm - 3:22pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Experimental

3:15pm CDT

Alabama Docs: Profiles
Buy Tickets
People of Alabama: My Friend the Goose
Directed by Tamika Moore and Lauren Musgrove
5 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Tracy Wilhelm, an elementary school art teacher, shares a unique relationship with Lucas, a goose living in the Fairhope duck pond.

Uncle Glen’s Hygienic Panty
Directed by Jeff Jeffcoat
25 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
In 1992, Jeff was a young actor in LA with a budding career when a bizarre VHS tape arrived from his wayward Uncle Glen.

Spirit Citizen
Directed by Nick Corrao
5 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
A short exploration of internationally exhibited Cheyenne-Arapaho artist Edgar Heap of Birds’ connection to, inspiration from, and commitment to the land.

Hidden Voices
Directed by Matthew Brooks, Michael Cooper, and Holly White
9 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Being a minority religion in the Bible Belt can be a challenge, especially for those who left their churches for pagan practices.

Reaching New Heights: Russellville’s Rocket Team
Directed by J. Whitson
27 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
In 2015, the Russellville City School Engineering Team won the International Rocketry Challenge at the Paris Air Show.

1108 Dynamite Hill
Directed by Mary Campbell Kitchens and Joseph Quintana
9 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Life-long Birmingham resident Jeff Drew shows us terrorism is far from a new phenomenon.

SOME MILLION MILES
Directed by Jared Ragland and Adam Forrester
13 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Set within a rural landscape of abundant beauty and deep poverty, this film is a meditation on loss and the search for redemption amidst systemic social and economic marginalization.

Ladylike
Directed by Rachel Bickert, Emily Tapanes, Emma Wang, and Lidieth Arevalo
20 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
A young queer woman comes to terms with her sexuality, shattering her deep-rooted religious beliefs and cultural stereotypes within her conservative community, family and self.

Screenings in the Alabama School of Fine Arts multiplex are proudly sponsored by Birmingham Business Journal and ASFA.
Filmmakers
AF
ET
EW
HW
JW
avatar for Jared Ragland

Jared Ragland

Photographer / Director
Jared Ragland (MFA, Tulane) is a fine art and documentary photographer and former White House photo editor. His first documentary film, SOME MILLION MILES (co-directed with Adam Forrester), is part of an long-term visual ethnographic study of methamphetamine use in rural northeast... Read More →
JJ
JQ
LM
LA
MC
MB
MC
NC
RB
TM

Sponsors
avatar for Alabama School of Fine Arts

Alabama School of Fine Arts

Alabama School of Fine Arts
The Alabama School of Fine Arts is a partially residential public school authorized and funded by the Alabama Legislature to provide tuition-free instruction for impassioned students, grades 7-12. The school provides focused specialty instruction in Creative Writing, Dance, Mathematics... Read More →
avatar for Birmingham Business Journal

Saturday August 24, 2019 3:15pm - 5:08pm CDT
ASFA Recital Hall
  Shorts Block, Documentary

3:30pm CDT

Discussing "Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am"
At this panel we will explore the life and legacy of author Toni Morrison following our screening of Toni Morrison: Pieces I Am. This panel is free and open to the public. You do not need a festival ticket to attend.

LaShondra Hemphill is an artist-in-residence at the Alys Stephens Center and an advocate for women in music.

Salaam Green is the Executive Director of the Literary Healing Arts Foundation.

Ashley Jones teaches creative writing at Alabama School of Fine Arts and is the director of the Magic City Poetry Festival.

Sidewalk’s educational programming is sponsored by Wind Creek Hospitality.
Speakers
SG
LH
avatar for Wind Creek Hospitallity

Wind Creek Hospitallity

Wind Creek Hospitality
AM

Saturday August 24, 2019 3:30pm - 4:30pm CDT
ASFA Gallery
  Panel

3:40pm CDT

Close
An auditory experience that highlights the discomfort of unwanted sexual advances in the workplace.
Filmmakers
avatar for Richard Lin

Richard Lin

Visual Artist
Taiwanese visual artist born and raised in Southern California. (IG: @richardtaotaolin)

Saturday August 24, 2019 3:40pm - 3:44pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Narrative

3:40pm CDT

Alabama Docs: Foodies sponsored by Les Dames d'Escoffier
Buy Tickets
PIE IN THE PUSS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF PIEING IN FILM
Directed by Stacey Davis
9 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
From a pie in the face, to the pie toss, to the ultimate pie fight -- the evolution of pieing in film.

Vishwesh Bhatt: The South I Love
Directed by Nicole Du Bois
7 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Follow along with Vishwesh Bhatt as he recounts his journey from cooking for beer money to celebrated chef.

A Woman’s Place
Directed by Callie Walls and Jennifer Wells
9 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
The high-end culinary world has traditionally been a boy’s club, and pioneering women chefs and restaurant owners in Birmingham are trying to change that.

Beautiful Rainbow
Directed by Heather Rickles
5 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Matthew and Tay work their way up from a farm to table educational program to the real workforce using determination, and a little bit of swag.

Plated Prose
Directed by Ava Lowrey
7 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Ravi Howard digs through the Lupton Collection at the University of Alabama, discovering self-crafted narratives and the voices of those who wrote before him.

Who’s Your Farmer?
Directed by Jess Lingle
14 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Do you know where your food comes from? And you can’t say “the grocery store.”

One Stop
Directed by Ava Lowrey
7 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Owner Heather Ehl and cook Patrick McMillan have been working together for 20+ years at Mac’s 1 Stop, a gas station and lunch counter that feeds Birmingham’s downtown laborers.

Screenings in the Alabama School of Fine Arts multiplex are proudly sponsored by Birmingham Business Journal and ASFA.

Filmmakers
AL
CW
HR
JW
JL
ND
avatar for Stacey Davis

Stacey Davis

Attorney/Filmmaker, The Law Firm of Stacey A. Davis/Under The Couch Entertainment
Entertainment lawyer; Filmmaker

Sponsors
avatar for Les Dames d’Escoffier International Birmingham Chapter

Les Dames d’Escoffier International Birmingham Chapter

Les Dames d’Escoffier International Birmingham Chapter
The Birmingham chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier International (LDEI) is an organization of resident leaders and experts in the food and beverage industries, and we are dedicated to growing, creating, promoting, and sharing our local food culture.

Saturday August 24, 2019 3:40pm - 4:38pm CDT
ASFA Black Box Theatre
  Shorts Block, Documentary

3:55pm CDT

En Machina
Two inventors, Steve and Steve, create the world's first true artificial intelligence in their garage.
Filmmakers
LB

Saturday August 24, 2019 3:55pm - 4:08pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Narrative

4:25pm CDT

Fluchtpunkt
Tonight is the great vernissage, the first major exhibition of artist, Carlotta Carlsen, but what could be delaying her arrival?
Filmmakers
BB

Saturday August 24, 2019 4:25pm - 4:32pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Narrative

4:30pm CDT

American Dharma sponsored by ELI Electricity and Lighting
Buy Tickets
In “American Dharma,” Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Errol Morris attempts to make sense of the 2016 election results by focusing on the alt-right figurehead and former adviser to Donald Trump, Stephen K. Bannon. This heavily stylized interview-style documentary reviews the controversial tactics and associations Bannon employed in politics, and his present-day opinions on the American economy, for a chilling look at the world. As Morris says, “I felt like I had to do something.” — Charlie Brown Sanders

The Life & Liberty sidebar is sponsored by First Church Birmingham.

Screenings in the Lyric Theatre are proudly sponsored by the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Filmmakers
EM

Sponsors
avatar for First Church Birmingham

First Church Birmingham

First Church Birmingham
An historic church in the heart of downtown Birmingham, First Church Birmingham is an open place for ALL to worship, grow, and serve. We are a diverse congregation made up of people from all over the Birmingham metro area and beyond.
avatar for Greater Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau


Saturday August 24, 2019 4:30pm - 6:05pm CDT
Lyric Theatre
  Feature, Documentary

4:30pm CDT

ENCORE: Shorts: Start Here
Saturday August 24, 2019 4:30pm - 6:09pm CDT
Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema (B)
  Shorts Block, Documentaries & Narratives
  • Filmmaker Scheduled to Attend Yes

4:35pm CDT

Shedding
Buy Tickets
After spending days staring longingly out his apartment’s window at the outside world, a lonely housecat one afternoon magically transforms into a man. But being a human is not all it’s cracked up to be, and the world looks much different from a person’s perspective. After crossing paths with a woman who finds his human form familiar, our feline friend unwittingly is brought into a grieving family. “Shedding” is a gentle look at the comfort our furry friends can offer. — Corey Craft
Filmmakers
avatar for Jake Thomas


Saturday August 24, 2019 4:35pm - 5:51pm CDT
McWane Center Rushton Theatre
  Feature, Narrative

4:45pm CDT

See Me
An exploration of women reclaiming their sexuality from patriarchy.
Filmmakers
AR

Saturday August 24, 2019 4:45pm - 4:50pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Narrative

4:45pm CDT

17 Blocks sponsored by UAB School of Public Health
Buy Tickets
Assembled from amateur footage collected over two decades, the documentary “17 Blocks” can be difficult and uncomfortable to watch. Combined with the intimate way it invites the viewer into the world of the Sanford family, that is where it gets its power. As it portrays addiction, instability, and violence — punctuated by glimmers of hope — the audience is given a front-row perspective into a home 17 blocks from the U.S. Capitol, in a community a world apart from its neighbor. — Charlie Bice

The Life & Liberty sidebar is sponsored by First Church Birmingham.

Filmmakers
DR

Sponsors
avatar for First Church Birmingham

First Church Birmingham

First Church Birmingham
An historic church in the heart of downtown Birmingham, First Church Birmingham is an open place for ALL to worship, grow, and serve. We are a diverse congregation made up of people from all over the Birmingham metro area and beyond.


Saturday August 24, 2019 4:45pm - 6:21pm CDT
First Church of Birmingham
  Feature, Documentary

5:00pm CDT

Story Development w/ Stowe Story Labs
David Pope and David Rocchio of Stowe Story Labs will discuss how writers can learn the tools to conversations about story - take the work out of your head and putting it into a collaborative process. This panel is free and open to the public. You do not need a festival ticket to attend.

Sidewalk’s educational programming is sponsored by Wind Creek Hospitality.

Speakers
DP
DR

Saturday August 24, 2019 5:00pm - 6:00pm CDT
ASFA Gallery
  Panel

5:00pm CDT

The Grizzlies
Buy Tickets
Based on a true story, “The Grizzlies” is an inspiring recounting of a teacher’s determination to bring hope to kids that have already given up on life. Set in Canada’s Northwest Territory, a recent graduate takes on a temporary teaching job in an impoverished Inuit community with a high teen suicide rate. Alarmed by the hopelessness his kids face each day, he persuades them to form a lacrosse team, leading the Grizzlies to compete in the match of their lives. — Kyle McKinnon
Filmmakers
MD


Saturday August 24, 2019 5:00pm - 6:44pm CDT
Red Mountain Theatre Company (Cabaret Theatre)
  Feature

5:05pm CDT

Goodbye Paradise
Learn first hand the devastating effects that climate change is having on a community on the Pacific Ocean.
Filmmakers
avatar for Scott E. Schimmel

Scott E. Schimmel

Scott E. Schimmel is a O‘ahu based environmental scientist and documentary filmmaker. His award winning work explores justice, the environment, and the enduring curiosity of the human spirit, and has been broadcast on public television and screened at festivals around the world... Read More →

Saturday August 24, 2019 5:05pm - 5:09pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Documentary

5:15pm CDT

Finding Big Country
Buy Tickets
Former NBA player Bryant “Big Country” Reeves is known as one of the league’s biggest busts. He never lived up to his sixty million dollar contract with the ill-fated Vancouver Grizzlies and when his team relocated to Memphis after just six years, he vanished from the league. No one in Vancouver or the NBA has seen or heard from the big fella since he retired-- he’s the only Vancouver Grizzly who never publicly commented on his time with the team. But one childhood fan, turned filmmaker, Kat Jayme has tracked Big Country down to a cattle ranch in his hometown Gans, Oklahoma and she’s dead set on breaking his silence.

Premium Single Tickets coming soon.
Filmmakers
KJ

Kat Jayme

Director, Kat Jayme Films


Saturday August 24, 2019 5:15pm - 5:56pm CDT
Birmingham Museum of Art
  Short

5:15pm CDT

The Nightingale sponsored by Cox Pools
Buy Tickets
None of us were prepared for Jennifer Kent’s followup to “The Babadook.” Set in 1825 Tasmania, it tells the story of a woman’s rugged journey to wreak vengeance on the man who violently destroyed her life. To call “The Nightingale: a revenge tale robs it of its real power - this is a sermon for our time, about the nature of cruelty and how we react to it. It’s an awfully difficult pill to swallow, but within this story lives hope and love. — Kyle McKinnon
Filmmakers
JK


Saturday August 24, 2019 5:15pm - 7:31pm CDT
Alabama Theatre
  Feature, Narrative

5:25pm CDT

Everest - The VR film Experience
Follow Sherpa Tenji as he attempts to climb Mt Everest without the use of bottled oxygen.
Filmmakers
JG

Saturday August 24, 2019 5:25pm - 5:36pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Documentary

5:25pm CDT

Black Magic for White Boys
Buy Tickets
A New York illusionist introduces a real disappearing spell into his struggling act. Soon, the magician is hired both by a landlord who wants to raise his rents but first must make his minority tenants vanish, and by a man-child seeking to avoid fatherhood by making his girlfriend’s unborn child disappear. Onur Tukel’s latest blistering satire is a righteously furious look at gentrification, misogyny and pharmaceutical dependence, hilariously brought to life by a sprawling ensemble cast. — Corey Craft
Filmmakers
OT


Saturday August 24, 2019 5:25pm - 7:10pm CDT
ASFA Black Box Theatre
  Feature, Narrative

5:30pm CDT

Alabama Documentary Shorts: Politics - Encore
Here we explore different aspects of Alabama’s complex politics.

Dawoud Bey: The Birmingham Project
Directed by Carroll Moore
11 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
A portrait of American photographer Dawoud Bey’s series that commemorates the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church.

Woke Vote
Directed by Lance Warren and Hannah Ayers
17 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
The inside story of how a preacher’s daughter from Birmingham assembled a team and strategy to send a Democrat to the Senate from Alabama for the first time in 25 years.

Druid City Strong
Directed by Blake Hudson
11 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
The story of the emergency workers who risked their lives to save countless others the day an EF4 tornado hit Tuscaloosa.

Walls of Jericho
Directed by Stacey Brannan, Logan Hames, and Michael Wolter
11 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Blighted Birmingham neighborhoods are a destination for both urban explorers and urban revitalizers.

The People of Climbing
Directed by Josh Greenwood
14 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Examining race, equity, representation and inclusion in America through the lens of the Color the Crag outdoor festival in Alabama.

Call Me
Directed by Megan Friend and Norris Davis
9 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
A tale of Alexander Shunnarah and his many, many billboards.

A Generation Drowning
Directed by Lauren Senwo and Nikita Udayakumar
9 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Student debt and college access weigh down today’s students and recent graduates.

Murder In Mobile
Directed by Adam Fischer
24 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Murder in Mobile is a film about race, murder, and one family's search for the truth 70 years later.
Filmmakers
AF
avatar for Blake Hudson

Blake Hudson

I am a freelance filmmaker currently finishing my Telecommunications and Film degree at the University of Alabama.
CM
HA
JG
LW

Lance Warren

Field Studio
We make media at the intersection of history and social justice.
LS
LH
avatar for Megan Friend
MW
NU
ND
SB

Saturday August 24, 2019 5:30pm - 7:15pm CDT
Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema (A)
  Shorts Block, Documentary

5:35pm CDT

Teen Documentaries sponsored by Planned Parenthood
Buy Tickets
These documentaries provide insight into the issues that fascinate today’s youth, and see solutions through their eyes.

In Character (BLACK LENS)
Directed by Kathine Chen, Kunga Choepel, and Pranab Malla
9 minutes • USA
Two teens offer a glimpse into the world of cosplay and comic-cons, discussing both the benefits and hardships of being a part of the cosplay community.

Feminism Through Isabella
Directed by Alyssa Abreu, Jidobi Chime, Taylor Fields, and Nehanda Hammond
8 minutes • USA
From a young girl in her pajamas to a political activist protesting gender inequality in Washington Square Park, women of all ages and backgrounds talk about their personal notions of feminism.

Las Madres Perdidas (LIFE AND LIBERTY)
Directed by Anna Katz
4 minutes • USA
Resilience, love, and motherhood.

Mario (LIFE AND LIBERTY)
Directed by Sam Slye
3 minutes • USA
An interview with a deported veteran of the US military.

Displaced (LIFE AND LIBERTY)
Directed by Zachary Echevarria, A’mya Celenia McKnight, and Nerissa Wright
10 minutes • USA
Interviews with New York City locals reveal both the large and small-scale effects of gentrification.

The Blacker the Berry (BLACK LENS)
Directed by Taylor Fields and Camille Wilson
10 minutes • USA
Teens discuss the importance of self-love in the African-American community as a means of fighting against colorist media.

Birmingham 1963… A Year of Triumphs and Tragedies (AL FILM) (LIFE AND LIBERTY)
Directed by Rafael Ibarra
10 minutes • USA
This film tells the story of the Birmingham Campaign and how it is a pivotal point in our nation's history.

Guatemalans and Their Government (LIFE AND LIBERTY)
Directed by Daniel Novokov and Walt Schoen
9 minutes • USA
Two teens explore the relationship between the Guatemalan government and Guatemalan press.

T(HE)Y
Directed by Caroline Callender and Silver Liftin
11 minutes • USA
Dakota Nieves and Indiana Baker explore their experiences growing up as transgender high school students in New York City.

Mr. Ji
Directed by Lukas Calabrese
8 minutes • USA
Mr. Ji is a wheelchair bound dog as eccentric as the NYC neighborhood he lives in.

Filmmakers
AA
AK
AC
CW
CC
DN
JC
KC
KC
LC
NH
NW
PM
avatar for Rafael Ibarra

Rafael Ibarra

Student Filmmaker
I am currently a freshman at Mt. San Jacinto College in California. My long term goal is to attend UCLA Film and Television School. I began making documentaries in 7th grade. This year's documentary, Birmingham 1963, was particularly special because I traveled to Birmingham. I explored... Read More →
SS
SL
TF
WS
ZE

Saturday August 24, 2019 5:35pm - 6:56pm CDT
ASFA Lecture Hall
  Shorts Block, Documentary

5:40pm CDT

Everybody's Everything
Buy Tickets
The late Gustav Åhr, better known to his fans as the emo-rap artist Lil Peep, had a meteoric rise to fame from Soundcloud to the Billboard charts before his tragic death at age 21 of an overdose. Through archival footage and new interviews, this new documentary takes an intimate look at the troubled musician who lived his life in the spotlight, trying to be, as he put it on the final day of his life, “everybody’s everything.” — Corey Craft
Filmmakers
SJ


Saturday August 24, 2019 5:40pm - 7:35pm CDT
ASFA Dorothy Jemison Day Theater
  Feature, Documentary
  • Country of Origin USA
  • Run Time 1hr 55min
  • Trailer Trailer not available

5:50pm CDT

Traveling While Black
Traveling While Black is a cinematic VR experience that immerses the viewer in the long history of restriction of movement for black Americans and the creation of safe spaces in our communities.
Filmmakers
RR

Saturday August 24, 2019 5:50pm - 6:08pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Documentary & Narrative

6:00pm CDT

Circus of Books sponsored by Central Alabama Pride
Buy Tickets
This documentary tells the fascinating story of Circus of Books, a beloved focal point of the West Hollywood gay scene owned and operated by a straight Jewish couple who became two of the biggest gay porn distributors in the country — all while keeping their business completely separate from their faith, friends and children. Told mostly by the family and Circus of Books’ employees, this surprisingly textured film digs deep into the struggles to preserve and expand America’s fundamental freedoms. — J. Whitson
Filmmakers
RM


Saturday August 24, 2019 6:00pm - 7:31pm CDT
ASFA Recital Hall
  Feature, Documentary

6:25pm CDT

Gloomy Eyes
Filmmakers
JT

Saturday August 24, 2019 6:25pm - 6:37pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Narrative

6:50pm CDT

Girl Icon
Around the world, 130 million girls do not have the opportunity to go school. Meet Rani, a 17-year-old from Varanasi, India, who is part of a growing movement of fearless girls leading change in their communities.
Filmmakers
SE

Saturday August 24, 2019 6:50pm - 6:58pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Documentary

7:00pm CDT

ArcStories: Projections: A Live Storytelling Event (For Adults) sponsored by Pentoir Painting
Buy Tickets
In this special Saturday evening event at the beautifully renovated Lyric Fine Arts Theatre, some of the region’s finest storytellers – and a few sensational special guests from the film industry – take the stage to weave their true tales, delivered with the unique, personal touch that only live storytelling can provide. An event you won’t forget in a setting only Birmingham can provide, Projections brings a vivid and intimate take on storytelling to the Southeast’s preeminent film festival for an exciting meeting of narrative forms.
Moderators
TR

Speakers
AH

Saturday August 24, 2019 7:00pm - 8:50pm CDT
Lyric Theatre
  Special Event

7:05pm CDT

Changing The Game
Buy Tickets
In 2017, high school transgender athlete Mack Beggs, competing in the league for the gender he was assigned at birth, was named the Texas state champion in wrestling. The win made headlines, generating hero worship from some and hate mail and threats from others. “Changing The Game” focuses on Beggs, but also profiles high school athletes Sarah, a New Hampshire skier, and Connecticut track star Andraya. The documentary reverently portrays the complexities of high school sports in the lives of young transgender athletes. — Rachel Morgan
Filmmakers
avatar for Michael Barnett

Michael Barnett

Director, SuperFilms!
Michael Barnett is an Emmy Award winning filmmaker focused on telling human stories of culture and social justice. His films have premiered at Sundance and Tribeca and have won awards at over 40 festivals around the globe. Michael has also created award winning commercials, music... Read More →


Saturday August 24, 2019 7:05pm - 8:35pm CDT
First Church of Birmingham
  Feature, Documentary

7:15pm CDT

Flawless
Buy Tickets
What is the price one will pay for beauty? In this breakout Israeli coming-of-age film, three unpopular school teens fight through peer pressure in search of that answer, eventually banding together on a tempting journey loaded with glimmers of “Clueless” — but one that escalates with heightened drama. In her film debut, trans fashion model Stav Strashko delivers an exceptional performance in the lead role as Eden. — J Matthew Cobb
Filmmakers
SM
TG


Saturday August 24, 2019 7:15pm - 8:52pm CDT
Birmingham Museum of Art
  Feature, Narrative

7:30pm CDT

Premature
Buy Tickets
Young college-bound Ayanna is thrown into a season of self-discovery when she meets aspiring music producer Isaiah. After a chance meeting, she embarks on a summer love that turns her world upside down. Navigating teenage love, friendship, loss and heartbreak, Ayanna finds the strength to take back control of her life and work to become the young woman she wants to be. — T. Marie King
Filmmakers
RE


Saturday August 24, 2019 7:30pm - 8:56pm CDT
RMTC Cabaret Theatre
  Feature, Narrative

7:30pm CDT

ENCORE: We're Complex
Explore the complexity of the human condition in these documentary shorts about relationships.

Meet Uncle Paul
Directed by Jessica Bursi
14 minutes • USA
Documentary short
Paul is 62-years-young, a lover of The Beatles, The Monkees, and The Terminator, and he happens to be living with Down syndrome.

Betty Feeds The Animals
Directed by James P. Gannon
9 minutes • USA
Documentary short
Betty loves animals, and everyday she puts 30 bowls of food outside to feed them.

Ài Bàba (Love Dad)
Directed by Connie Huang
6 minutes • USA
Documentary short
An intimate recording between a mother and her 7 year old daughter about divorce.

Love Birds
Directed by Ashley Mosher
8 minutes • USA
Documentary short
An American woman travels into the Amazon jungle, discouraged with her marriage, and on a quest for adventure.

Not Make Dreams Your Master
Directed by Theodore Collatos
8 minutes • USA
Documentary short
Eavesdrop on the cultural mash-up between a country group and a multicultural trio, who discuss everything from philosophy, gender, race, and confronting the void.

Better Man
Directed by Chris Stanford
14 minutes • USA
Documentary short
A father and son relationship is tested after a rodeo injury leaves the young cowboy in a hopeless situation.

The Shearer
Directed by Jeremy Seifert
15 minutes • USA
Documentary short
Jonathan Hearne is a master sheep shearer and one of the most sought after for his trade in the Southeast.

The Race
Directed by Dina Rudick
10 minutes • USA
Documentary short
A Huntington’s Disease researcher comes face-to-face with three generations of a family devastated by the fatal, incurable disease she studies.
Saturday August 24, 2019 7:30pm - 9:30pm CDT
Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema (B)
  Shorts Block, Documentary

7:50pm CDT

National Narratives: Comedy
Buy Tickets
A suburban housewife at her wit’s end, a passive-aggressive delivery guy, and a drug deal gone wrong.

Damage
Directed by Matt Porter
8 minutes • USA
Narrative short
A breakup is interrupted.

Peggy
Directed by Justin O'Neal Miller
12 minutes • USA
Narrative short
Everything seems to work out perfectly for Peggy, but her social graces are put to the test when she is surrounded by admiring and covetous parents at a birthday party for her son. Chaos ensues.

A Gray One
Directed by Matt Enlow
8 minutes • USA
Narrative short
A couple's night gets turned upside down when one of them discovers a gray pubic hair, and they spiral into an existential crisis that nearly tears them apart.

Adam and Eve: A Mockumentary
Directed by Michael Long
16 minutes • USA
Narrative short
What if Adam accused Eve to hide his own guilt? This dry and witty adaptation of the timeless story takes a fresh look at gender roles and the he-said-she-said story.

Baby Blue Valentine
Directed by Lije Sarki
4 minutes • USA
Narrative short
A bitter grown-up inside a toddler's body searches for love on Valentine's Day.

Oh Yeah!
Directed by Nathan Adloff and Joy Nash
6 minutes • USA
Narrative short
An apartment dweller is terrorized by her neighbors’ loud love making. One night she snaps and hatches a plan to make sure she never hears a peep from them again.

King Wah (I Think I Love You)
Directed by Horatio Baltz
8 minutes • USA
Narrative short
A disgruntled delivery man, a woman with chronic déjà vu, Pat Sajak, and a slow dance in a Chinese takeout restaurant.

The Puppet Master
Directed by Cal Brunker
5 minutes • USA
Narrative short
When a jogger comes across a mysterious ringing cellphone in the woods, he finds himself an unwilling pawn in the plan of an evil mastermind.

Loveseat
Directed by Grace Kim
17 minutes • USA
Narrative short
A lonely, middle-aged man sets out in search of his soulmate after what he believes to be a fateful encounter with a banana.

Molly
Directed by Phyllis Jackson
10 minutes • USA
Narrative short
He’s just your average, middle-aged divorcee looking for his first fix. Today he meets Molly.

Me Time
Directed by Iyabo Boyd
11 minutes • USA
Narrative short
Through laughter and introspection, ME TIME explores women's sexuality, self care, and highlights the richness of our inner lives.
Filmmakers
CB
avatar for Grace Kim

Grace Kim

Creative Director, Pasado Films
I'm a Korean-American filmmaker who is drawn to absurdist and surrealist premises to express human experiences. I've also found that while my films don't necessarily start out in the intention to express personal stories, I'll often find my experiences being expressed in the film... Read More →
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Iyabo Boyd

I'm a film maker who loves to meet/hear new bands, make music videos, and go to live shows!
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avatar for Lije Sarki

Lije Sarki

Producer/Director, 1993
Hailing from Northern Michigan, Lije Sarki is a producer, director, writer,and skateboarder. Growing up, when he wasn’t helping his waitress mother with his younger siblings, he was riding a skateboard. At 16, he planned an escape to California, but after a failed attempt he finally... Read More →
avatar for Matt Enlow

Matt Enlow

Director
Writer, director, third thing.
avatar for Matt Porter

Matt Porter

Writer/Director
Matt Porter is a director, writer, and actor living in New York. He is the co-director/co-writer/co-star of the Comedy Central web series NEW TIMERS, and was featured as part of the "New Faces: Creators" category at the Just For Laughs comedy festival in Montreal. Matt was the Field... Read More →
avatar for Michael Long

Michael Long

Director
Michael Long is a director and video designer living in Philadelphia, with a passion for satire and absurdity. He has directed three short films—In Real Life, No One Else, and Adam and Eve: A Mockumentary— and co-produced one feature, Out the Door, currently in post production... Read More →
avatar for Nathan Adloff
avatar for Phyllis Jackson

Phyllis Jackson

Phyllis Jackson is a writer and director hailing from the South Carolina Lowcountry now living and working in Atlanta, GA. Her favorite movies to direct are the kind that anyone could see themselves starring in, and the influence of Southern culture (and humidity) is unmistakable... Read More →

Saturday August 24, 2019 7:50pm - 9:35pm CDT
ASFA Lecture Hall
  Shorts Block, Narrative

8:00pm CDT

Shakedown
Buy Tickets
“Shakedown” follows the story of the Shakedown Angels — exotic dancers who performed primarily for queer women in Los Angeles underground gay clubs in the ’90s and early 2000s. Led by party promoter and self-described stud “Ronnie-Ron,” the Shakedown Angels’ performance personas develop a cult-like fan following. As documentarian Leilah Weinraub takes viewers into intimate backstage spaces, you get a glimpse of a distinctive Los Angeles subculture that no longer exists in the same form. — Brit Blalock
Filmmakers
LW


Saturday August 24, 2019 8:00pm - 9:12pm CDT
ASFA Black Box Theatre
  Feature, Documentary

8:10pm CDT

ENCORE: Range Runners
A woman hiking a remote wilderness trail stumbles upon two desperate criminals hiding out in the forest. They get the jump on her and steal her backpack and supplies, leaving her injured, stranded and miles from help. But they messed with the wrong hiker; resolved to get back what’s hers, she and the two men enter a struggle with increasing stakes. “Range Runners” is a nifty, exciting thriller that grows steadily more tense and involving as it progresses. — Corey Craft

Saturday August 24, 2019 8:10pm - 10:15pm CDT
Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema (A)
  Feature, Narrative

8:15pm CDT

Shorts: Sidewalk Sampler
Buy Tickets
A nice sampler of Sidewalk shorts.

WHEREABOUTS
Directed by Polina Malikin
14 minutes • USA
A sideways glancing portrait of a small-town teenager searching for a somewhere. Told in poetic vignettes, the film traces a young girl making a big choice as she faces the brink of adulthood.

Thanksgiving (SHOUT)
Directed by Van B. Nguyen
11 minutes • USA
A traditional Vietnamese couple prepares for Thanksgiving and faces a modern-day situation they never expected when their son brings home a man.

El Tejano (AL Film)
Directed by Carlos Estrada
9 minutes • USA
After coming in contact with a mysterious luchador mask, Jose must adapt to his new body and skills as he tries fitting in at his office, oh, and fending off some vampiric wrestlers seeking to change the way media presents facts.

INCANDESCENT
Directed by Alfred Thomas Catalfo
15 minutes • USA
When a nomadic alien race blots out the sun, an anguished young teacher tries to hold on to her humanity in a withering world.

Angel & Opal
Directed by Jack Truman
6 minutes • USA
A short documentary film about 2 burlesque legends talking about the burlesque days of yesterday.

Blue Plate Special
Directed by Bill Billions
15 minutes • USA
A man tries to outrun unkept promises.

Shades of Tree
Directed by Seth Cunningham
17 minutes • USA
When an Entity that wakes up in a different body everyday meets a struggling designer they push each other to realize what's important in life.

Crazy Cat Lady
Directed by Carrie Wachob and James Winters
5 minutes • USA
A cat lover finds herself away from her beloved Waffles when the world ends.
Filmmakers
avatar for Alfred Thomas Catalfo

Alfred Thomas Catalfo

Writer • Producer • Director, Stemwinder Studios
BB
CE
avatar for Carrie Wachob

Carrie Wachob

Carrie Wachob is a Seattle-based screenwriter, filmmaker, and dog lover.
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VB

Van B. Nguyen

@vanb_nguyen

Saturday August 24, 2019 8:15pm - 9:47pm CDT
ASFA Recital Hall
  Shorts Block, Narrative
  • Run Time 1hr 32min
  • Trailer no trailers found

8:15pm CDT

The Death Of Dick Long sponsored by ADTRAV
Buy Tickets
It all started as a normal band practice. But things got weird, and good ol’ boy Dick died. Now his buddies Zeke and Earl are left to cover their tracks and keep a shocking dark secret. But they aren’t exactly master criminals, and terrible things never stay buried in small Alabama towns. Soon, the two raise the suspicions of the cops and Zeke’s much smarter wife. Birmingham native Daniel Scheinert directs this lovingly Southern caper comedy with an outrageous twist. — Corey Craft
Filmmakers
DS


Saturday August 24, 2019 8:15pm - 9:55pm CDT
Alabama Theatre
  Feature, Narrative

8:20pm CDT

Monos
Buy Tickets
On a faraway mountaintop, eight kids with guns watch over a hostage and a conscripted milk cow.
Filmmakers
AL


Saturday August 24, 2019 8:20pm - 10:02pm CDT
ASFA Dorothy Jemison Day Theater
  Feature, Narrative

9:00pm CDT

Sidewalk Saturday Southern AF / Saturday Night After Party
Buy Tickets
Sidewalk Saturday is Southern AF at historic Sloss Furnaces! Live music stage featuring Don't Rock the Jukebox, Will Stewart and more, a dance party under the famous "shed" with guest DJ's blüprint and ProtoJMusick, bar service featuring Absolut, George Dickel, Cahaba Brewing Co. and Yellow Tail Wines and catering from a surprise southern late night staple.
Saturday August 24, 2019 9:00pm - Sunday August 25, 2019 1:00am CDT
Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark
  Party

9:30pm CDT

In Fabric sponsored by MDM Design Studio
Buy Tickets
A beautiful but cursed red dress passes from owner to owner, causing mayhem and horror, in director Peter Strickland’s latest stylish homage to Euro-horror of the 1970s. During a midnight sale, a deeply unnerving department store sells this haunted garment to a lonely divorcee looking to shake things up. But she cannot anticipate the dress’s dark power. All will be brought under its spell in this horrific, kinky, hilarious take on the hypnotic compulsions of capitalism and fashion. Note: This film is rated NC-17. — Corey Craft
Filmmakers
PS


Saturday August 24, 2019 9:30pm - 11:28pm CDT
Lyric Theatre
  Feature, Narrative

9:40pm CDT

The Ghost Who Walks
Buy Tickets
In this action-packed tale of redemption, a recently released prisoner ventures back into the city where he doesn’t belong. Determined to start a new life with his wife and daughter, he devises a plan that will free them from the clutches of a ruthless mob boss. But with his life suddenly in danger, he must accept the help low level thug and a stripper to stay alive long enough to see another day. — Kyle McKinnon
Filmmakers
avatar for Cody Stokes

Cody Stokes

Director


Saturday August 24, 2019 9:40pm - 11:20pm CDT
Birmingham Museum of Art
  Feature, Narrative

9:45pm CDT

This One's For The Ladies
Buy Tickets
This documentary is a jaw-dropping glimpse at the underground world of exotic dancing that is at times hilarious and surprisingly touching (pun intended). Featuring primarily African-American dancers and audience members, director Gene Graham says he made the documentary in part in response to the lack of diversity in films such as “Magic Mike.” Our favorite critic quote for a Sidewalk film this year is, “It's astonishing how much humanity can come out of a little d*** dancing.” Note: This film is rated NC-17. — Rachel Morgan
Filmmakers
GG


Saturday August 24, 2019 9:45pm - 11:07pm CDT
RMTC Cabaret Theatre
  Feature, Documentary

10:00pm CDT

Shorts: After Dark Ch. 1
Buy Tickets
Vampires, dates from hell, and freakish twins. These shorts play late at night for a reason - they’re spooky, gross, and not for the faint of heart! Watch if you dare.


A Partial Theory of Commodity Fetishism in 3 scenes (+epilogue)
Directed by Spencer Parsons
16 minutes • USA
The commodity-form, and the value-relation of the products of labour within which it appears, have no connection with the physical nature of the commodity itself.

Date Movie
Directed by Emily Mackenzie and Sasha Solodukhina
10 minutes • USA
A bad date gets worse over the course of one balmy New Orleans evening.


The Visit
Directed by Roxy Shih
10 minutes • USA
A pregnant woman and her husband visit her lonely, aging grandmother in the rural mountains of Taiwan only to witness the older woman's mysterious disappearance.

Hi Twin!
Directed by Leah Shore
1 minute • USA
Hi Twin! A true story. Commissioned by GIPHY!

Eat The Rainbow (SHOUT)
Directed by Brian Benson
20 minutes • USA
EAT THE RAINBOW is a musical fable about an odd yet kind man named Bayani who moves into a conservative suburban neighborhood and disrupts the otherwise comfortable homogeny.

Stucco
Directed by Janina Gavankar and Russo Schelling
17 minutes • USA
J is trying and failing to move forward.

Black Cat in a Dark Room
Directed by Leland Montgomery
15 minutes • USA
Bev, Florence, and Pauline are three vampires who subsist on the blood of the forgotten and terminally ill at their underground hospice facility. Bev starts questioning the morality of their actions.

How To Be Alone
Directed by Kate Trefry
13 minutes • USA
Lucy struggles to survive an increasingly bizarre and horrifying night.

An American Man (AL film)
Directed by Lily Ahree Siegel
3 minutes • USA
He is an American Man. Mmm, hotdogs.
Filmmakers
avatar for Brian Benson

Brian Benson

Director/Producer, Wonderman Films
Brian Benson is an award-winning director and a Peabody-winning, Emmy-nominated producer. He has been making ridiculous and provocative movies since he was 8 years old – only then he had youth as a defense. After studying film at UCLA and San Francisco State University, he directed... Read More →
EM
avatar for Janina Gavankar

Janina Gavankar

Principal, Safe Haven Productions, Inc
Gavankar is known for her diverse acting career in film, television, and major video games, such as TRUE BLOOD, THE LEAGUE, BLINDSPOTTING, and STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT II.Gavankar will next be starring opposite Ben Affleck in the Warner Brothers feature film THE WAY BACK, in March... Read More →
KT
avatar for Leah Shore

Leah Shore

Director, Leah Shore is AWESOME
Leah Shore’s films have been featured at over 100 festivals worldwide. She was named among Filmmaker Magazine's elite “25 New Faces of Independent Film 2013”, “Top 10 Animators You Should Know”, and included on several other best of lists. She directs, animates, writes commercially... Read More →
avatar for Leland Montgomery

Leland Montgomery

Director
Leland Montgomery is an LA based writer and director. He's so excited to have his short, Black Cat in a Dark Room at Sidewalk Film Festival.
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avatar for Sasha Solodukhina
SP

Saturday August 24, 2019 10:00pm - 11:51pm CDT
ASFA Black Box Theatre
  Shorts Block, Narrative

10:20pm CDT

Saturday Music Videos
Buy Tickets
Months By Captain Kudzu
Directed By Jackson Gafford, Myles Cain, Andrea Really, Lily Ahree Siegel

Monster By B. Snipes
Directed By Brandon Snipes

Marco Polo By Dommel Mosel
Directed By Kelsey Harrison Ianuzzi

Too Cool For School
Directed By Andrea Garcia

Sex Planet – Lacie
Directed By Zach Strum

Patience By Lady Legs
Directed By Sara Hagale

The Camera's On
Directed By Andrew Aidman

Prison Blues By Diamond Jim Greene
Directed By Beth Hoover and Gar Hoover

Til the end of time By Kerchief
Directed By Liesa Cole

Old Chums By Boss Rush
Directed By Ben Johnson

Wide Open By Queen Koldmadina
Directed By Kimberly Rivers Roberts

BW By Weird Maestro
Directed By C. Scott McCoy

Hello Heart By John Kilzer
Directed By Laura Jean Hocking

Prismism By Keuning
Directed By Russell Sheaffer

Next Words You Say
Directed By Kevin Wayne

S.H.A.M.E. by Matthew Mayfield
Directed By Greyson A. Welch

Pinups By Jubal John
Directed By Jason O'Brien

Fool
Directed By Al Kalyk

Barrel of a Gun
Directed By Tanne Willow

Gunning For By Peyton Pinkerton
Directed By Jay Hollinsworth

Welcome to the Night By Bald Man Band
Directed By Kevin Wayne

Burned That Bridge
Directed By Kevin Wayne
Saturday August 24, 2019 10:20pm - 11:50pm CDT
ASFA Lecture Hall
  Shorts Block
  • Run Time 1hr 30min

10:30pm CDT

After Dark Shorts Ch. 2
Buy Tickets
Spontaneous combustion, a taxidermied dad, and the stuff of nightmares. These shorts play late at night for a reason - they’re spooky, gross, and not for the faint of heart! Watch if you dare.

The Guy
Directed by Jon Fusco
15 minutes • USA
Tony keeps dreaming about boats.

You Are Going To Explode
Directed by Tayler Vee Robinson
22 minutes • USA
A depressed man searches for meaning to stave off his own spontaneous combustion.

I Love You, Hannah
Directed by Greg Fox
17 minutes • Canada
Charlie fears he hasn't given his girlfriend an orgasm after being haunted by her pornstar father.

Father Figurine
Directed by Matt Kazman
18 minutes • USA
When the wealthy patriarch of a family dies, they discover a rather unusual request in his will: for his body to be stuffed and kept on display in their home.

Wakey Wakey
Directed by Mary Dauterman
4 minutes • USA
Alex had a rough night.
Filmmakers
avatar for Greg Fox
avatar for Jon Fusco

Jon Fusco

Director, The Guy
Jon Fusco has been making a living as a jack of all trades since graduating from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts with a questionably useful BFA in Acting. He has worked for film publications like SnagFilms, Indiewire and is now a senior producer at No Film School, where he has been... Read More →
avatar for Julie Balefsky
avatar for Mary Dauterman

Mary Dauterman

Writer/Director
Mary Dauterman is a director and multidisciplinary creative based in Brooklyn. Her short films have been selected for multiple Vimeo Staff Picks, screened at Maryland Film Festival, Fantasia, and Cinequest, and featured on NoBudge, Vulture and Booooooom. She has published two kids... Read More →
avatar for Matt Kazman

Matt Kazman

Writer/Director
Matt is a filmmaker from Toronto who lives and works in Los Angeles. He likes to make comedies about uncomfortable moments.His short film KILLER screened at the Sundance Film Festival and won awards at the Seattle International Film Festival, IFFBoston, Sarasota Film Festival, Ashland... Read More →
avatar for Tayler Vee Robinson

Saturday August 24, 2019 10:30pm - 11:51pm CDT
ASFA Recital Hall
  Shorts Block, Narrative

10:40pm CDT

The Green Fog sponsored by LAH Real Estate
Buy Tickets
“The Green Fog” is an experimental film presenting a scrambled history of San Francisco through its representation in the movies. Commissioned by the San Francisco Film Society, director Guy Maddin and his “Forbidden Room” collaborators, siblings Evan and Galen Johnson, compiled footage from about 100 San Francisco-set movies and TV shows into a collage that pays tribute to Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo.” The film combines a Hitchcockian sense of intrigue, romance and suspense with a playful spirit. — Charlie Brown Sanders
Filmmakers
EJ
GJ
GM


Saturday August 24, 2019 10:40pm - 11:42pm CDT
Alabama Theatre
  Feature, Narrative/Experimental

10:40pm CDT

Shorts: After Dark Ch. 3 sponsored by MascotTV
Buy Tickets
Cannibalism, butts, and killer potatoes. These shorts play late at night for a reason - they’re spooky, gross, and not for the faint of heart! Watch if you dare.

Deep Tissue
Directed by Meredith Alloway
9 minutes • USA
Two strangers meet under mysterious means and discover they share a mutual fetish.

Technology Lake: Meditations on Death and Sex
Directed by Brandon Daley
8 minutes • USA
A dog and her owner navigate the perils of modern technology.

Too Late
Directed by Clayton Dean Smith
4 minutes • USA
Chad's ready to apologize to the woman he wronged. He can't screw up--the stakes couldn't be higher.

Alternative Fuel (AL film)
Directed by Ian Bondurant
4 minutes • USA
In a dry, dystopian future, cars have evolved to run on fuel other than oil.

Gunno
Directed by Felipe Di Poi Tamargo
2 minutes • USA
A hitman with a talking gun. You do the math.

Butt Fantasia
Directed by Mohit Jaswal
6 minutes • USA
With the help of a magic hat, an old man contemplates the good and bad times his butt has been through.

Lukewarm Liquids
Directed by Paul Oh
5 minutes • USA
A young couple experiences tensions surrounding a back scratch. The unreciprocated commitment between the two will lead to a gory end.

Hang In There (AL film)
Directed by Michael Greene and Michael McFarland
4 minutes • USA
A kidnapping gone awry, featuring the help of your favorite vegetables!

Tater (AL Film)
Directed by Spencer Lenzie
8 minutes • USA
A boy scientist must stop a space potato before it kills his entire family.

A Good Dinner Party
Directed by Zane Rubin
9 minutes • USA
Some friends attend a dinner party and things get weird.

Who’s a Good Boy (SHOUT)
Directed by Alex Phillips
11 minutes • USA
A creepy park urinator is kidnapped by his victims and becomes their pet dog.
Filmmakers
AP
avatar for Brandon Daley

Brandon Daley

Director, Writer, Editor, Beef Squad
Brandon Daley has directed over one million movies. A Kansas native, he now lives in Chicago, IL where he makes fever dream absurdist comedies and sells power tools. In 2016, Brandon self-funded his short film SAVASANA. The film premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival, going on... Read More →
avatar for Clayton Dean Smith

Clayton Dean Smith

Filmmaker, Actor
Clayton is a filmmaker and actor in NYC. He also serves on Midtown Manhattan's Community Board. Born and raised in Kansas City, with family in Austin.
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avatar for Michael
MG
MJ
avatar for Paul Oh

Paul Oh

Director
Hello! Lukewarm Liquids is my first short film playing the festival circuit and I am very excited to watch it with you. It was inspired from body horror genre films and crumbling vicenarian relationships.If you are interested, I'd love to talk about you about YOU. Why are you seeing... Read More →
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Sponsors
avatar for MascotTV

MascotTV

MascotTV
Mascot is an internet TV channel. We mainly show old (often weird) science fiction and horror movies. We also show kung-fu flicks, spaghetti westerns, and the occasional classy noir picture. You can watch Mascot via our Roku app, our Apple TV app, or on our website.

Saturday August 24, 2019 10:40pm - 11:50pm CDT
ASFA Dorothy Jemison Day Theater
  Shorts Block, Narrative
 
Sunday, August 25
 

10:00am CDT

Kids Shorts: Little Ones
Buy Tickets
These films are great for the whole family!

Gatito (AL film)
Directed by Kristina Arjona Adler
9 minutes • USA
A young Latino boy wants to be a cat for a day, and his traditional father attempts to support him.

Magic (AL film)
Directed by Maggie Bearden and Tucker Meek
10 minutes • USA
Hannah’s sister, Corrie, gets captured by the evil queen of Bunkleberriland and Hannah must go on a great and magical adventure to rescue her.

Oh Baby!
Directed by Meghann Artes
9 minutes • USA
Miracle, science and luck all play a part in this vibrant and fantastic imagining of how life begins.

The Pig on the Hill
Directed by John Helms and Jamy Wheless
6 minutes • USA
When Pig's free‐spirited, rambunctious new neighbor, Duck, plunges himself into Pig's quiet, orderly life, Pig learns that having friends is what he has been missing all along.

EGG CAR
Directed by Kai-Hsiang Chang
11 minutes • China
This is an adventure story about exploring, courage and problem-solving.

According to Kids: The Princess Bride
Directed by Jonathan Judge
7 minutes • USA
Adorable youngsters retell the classic movie with adults playing out the action as described (for better or worse for the plot!)

Everything Must Go
Directed by Lee Gallagher
3 minutes • USA
An alien conspiracy theorist in search of proof happens upon Area 51 holding a yard sale.

Tyler Nix, Monster Child
Directed by Amy Neswald
5 minutes • USA
Two monster children meet.
Filmmakers
AN

Amy Neswald

University of Maine, Farmington
Amy is a recent transplant to Farmington, Maine, where she teaches screenwriting and creative writing at the University of Maine. She is currently very interested in meeting creators of mini-docs, as she's teaching a class on personal stories and how we tell them across mediums.
avatar for Jamy Wheless

Jamy Wheless

CEO/Director, Lightstream Animation Studios
Influenced by comic books and art, Jamy Wheless started drawing memorable characters in grammar school and never looked back. After graduating with a degree in Visual Arts from Auburn University in 1987, he worked as a freelance illustrator in Atlanta, Georgia, where his illustration... Read More →
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Kristina Arjona Adler

Director, Gatito
Director/Producer of Gatito, a short film about a young Latino boy who wants to be a cat for a day. Would love to talk about anything related to why feminism is good for everyone, the importance of showcasing queer joy, and why more POC should be telling stories.
LG
avatar for Maggie Bearden
avatar for Meghann Artes

Meghann Artes

Meghann Artes is an award-winning filmmaker and animator who has worked with Sesame Street, Warner Bros., Nickelodeon, Bix Pix, Nick Jr., and NBC. Her short films have enjoyed success in festivals across the country and, in 2009, her work for Sesame Street was awarded both an Emmy... Read More →
TM

Sunday August 25, 2019 10:00am - 11:01am CDT
McWane Center Rushton Theatre
  Shorts Block, Narrative

10:00am CDT

Sister Aimee
Buy Tickets
In this playful comedy that’s part adventure tale, part musical, and completely entertaining, real-life 1920s evangelist Sister Aimee disappears right before her followers’ eyes. Or did she? What looks like a vanishing act is, in reality, a wily plot to abscond with her lover. But what was shiny and new in the U.S. loses its luster in Mexico, and now Aimee has to get back to Los Angeles, where her disciples and the authorities are searching for her. — Catherine Champion
Filmmakers
SB


Sunday August 25, 2019 10:00am - 11:27am CDT
Birmingham Museum of Art
  Feature, Narrative

10:00am CDT

Amazing Grace sponsored by VAL Group
Buy Tickets
Banished to the Warner Bros. vaults in 1972 thanks to difficulties syncing audio tracks with film, Sydney Pollack’s document of the recording of Aretha Franklin’s “Amazing Grace” has finally made its way to the screen. With its focus searching and preserved outtakes, the footage has a haunting and experiential quality. Andrew Chan said it best: “There’s never been another performance film in which the on-screen audience seems just as aware of the event’s monumentality as the contemporary viewer is able to be in hindsight. Past and present meet in the light of this one certainty.” — Rachel Morgan
Filmmakers
AE
SP


Sunday August 25, 2019 10:00am - 11:29am CDT
Lyric Theatre
  Feature, Documentary

10:00am CDT

Scheme Birds
Buy Tickets
Scottish teenager Gemma lives in the projects of crumbling former industrial town Motherwell,.Though surrounded by aimlessness and casual violence, Gemma still aspires to make something of her life — but when she gets pregnant by her delinquent boyfriend and disowned by her grandfather, she is abruptly introduced to the harsh realities of adulthood in this difficult town. This beautiful, unsentimental observational documentary won the Best Documentary Feature award at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. — Corey Craft
Filmmakers
EF


Sunday August 25, 2019 10:00am - 11:30am CDT
Alabama Theatre
  Feature, Documentary

10:00am CDT

Strange Negotiations
Buy Tickets
After a lifetime of devotion to his Christian faith, David Bazan turned away from the church and disbanded his successful group Pedro the Lion. This film closely follows Bazan as he spends considerable time alone on the road, away from his family, contemplating the world around him (especially around the 2016 election) and playing intimate house shows to audiences of recovering evangelicals. In a year of strong music documentaries, this one moved me to my core. — Kyle McKinnon
Filmmakers
BV


Sunday August 25, 2019 10:00am - 11:32am CDT
RMTC Cabaret Theatre
  Feature, Documentary

10:00am CDT

Body/Politics: National Docs
Buy Tickets
A Line Birds Cannot See
Directed by Amy Bench
9 minutes • USA
Animated short
Separated from her mother by smugglers at the border, a 12-year-old sets out across the desert.

Uniontown
Directed by Fraser Jones
16 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Modern day freedom fighters in rural Alabama band together to take back their town from industrial polluters and passive politicians.
Sweet Sweet Kink
Directed by Maggie M. Bailey
13 minutes • USA
Documentary short
Sweet Sweet Kink takes a sweet, sweet peek into the kinky world of bondage, dominance, and sadomasochism.

Lumpkin, GA
Directed by Nicholas Manting Brewer
24 minutes • USA
Documentary short
A fading southern town. A massive immigrant detention center down the road. A mosaic of life in the middle of America’s immigration crackdown.

The Gospel of Combat
Directed by David Hutchinson
12 minutes • USA
Documentary short
Threatened by the violent aftermath of Kenya’s 2017 elections, a fledgling Aikido sensei ponders whether his martial art can heal old wounds.

Exit 12
Directed by Mohammad Gorjestani
24 minutes • USA
Documentary short
US Marine Roman Baca, with other veterans and military families, uses dance to reclaim themselves, and change the perceptions of the Veteran community.
Filmmakers
avatar for Amy Bench

Amy Bench

Amy is a filmmaker and visual artist who is drawn to the immediacy of film and photography to tell stories of community and resilience. Trained as a cinematographer, her observational style highlights small details of the human experience that transcend formal explanation. Her camera... Read More →
avatar for David Hutchinson

David Hutchinson

David Hutchinson is a documentary filmmaker from San Diego, CA. His work has been shortlisted for a student BAFTA and has screened at numerous festivals, including St. Louis International Film Festival, Sedona, DC Shorts, and Sidewalk Film Festival.
avatar for Fraser Jones
avatar for Maggie M. Bailey

Maggie M. Bailey

Born on the east coast now residing in Austin, TX pursuing my MFA in Media & Film Production at the University of Texas at Austin. I am a documentary filmmaker, boudoir photographer, and Latin dancer. I aim to make documentary work that provides a platform to unheard voices, educates... Read More →
MG
avatar for Nicholas Manting Brewer

Nicholas Manting Brewer

Co-Founder, Standard Deviation Productions
Nicholas Manting Brewer is an award-winning documentary storyteller and film editor based out of Los Angeles, CA by way of Augusta, GA. His work has screened at several film festivals, including Sundance, South by Southwest, and the Cleveland International film festival. Nicholas... Read More →

Sunday August 25, 2019 10:00am - 11:38am CDT
ASFA Dorothy Jemison Day Theater
  Shorts Block, Documentary

10:10am CDT

Life & Liberty Docs
Buy Tickets
These documentary shorts explore human rights issues.
The Conqueror
Directed by Timothy Blackwood
12 minutes • USA
Documentary short
Maintenance worker by day, pro-boxer by night, Jerome Conquest shares a story of redemption, not only for himself, but for his struggling community.

Katie and the Black Robin Hood
Directed by Alessandra Giordano and John Richie
21 minutes • USA
Documentary short
Katie Carter is a Public Defender in New Orleans who makes sentencing films on behalf of her clients, demonstrating the power of empathy to reform our justice system.

HER ROOM BY THE KITCHEN
Directed by Romina Romero-Hermoso
12 minutes • USA
Documentary short
Rous, a 25-year-old Mexican woman, questions the true value of the opportunities promised by being an au pair in the USA.

Cincuenta (Fifty)
Directed by Alberto Chumaceiro
4 minutes • Venezuela
Documentary short
The story of Miguel Castillo Bracho, killed by a military officer, and the 50th victim of anti-government protests in Caracas, Venezuela.

Enforcement Hours
Directed by Paloma Martinez
13 minutes • USA
Documentary short
In a climate of xenophobia and confusion, a San Francisco hotline aims to provide limited assistance to a targeted population.

Dying Out Loud
Directed by Jake J. Smith
20 minutes • United Kingdom
Documentary short
Female lifers in a US maximum-security prison form a band, the Lady Lifers, to sing about their lives of bad decisions.

Medina’s Song
Directed by Bob Miller
12 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Despite the persistent threat of bombings, a young Sudanese educator uses her classroom to spark resilience and pride amongst her people.

Confirmation Bias
Directed by Theodore Collatos
7 minutes • USA
Documentary short
The controversial nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, complimented by the sounds of abuse found in the 1978 film "I Spit on Your Grave." Viewer discretion is advised.
Filmmakers
avatar for Alberto Chumaceiro
AG
avatar for Bob Miller
JJ
JR
avatar for Paloma Martinez
RR
avatar for Teddy Collatos
avatar for Timothy Blackwood

Timothy Blackwood

Director, Montague Cervantes
Timothy Blackwood is a multi-award winning Canadian-American film director, writer, and producer. After studying at the European Film College in Ebeltoft, Denmark, Timothy has traveled the world telling cinematic stories of hope, adventure, and redemption. His films have screened... Read More →

Sunday August 25, 2019 10:10am - 11:52am CDT
ASFA Lecture Hall
  Shorts Block, Documentary

10:25am CDT

Sunday Music Videos
Buy Tickets
Voice of Memphis By Negro Terror
Directed By Xian Walker

One Strange Rock By Zedd
Directed By The Edwards Brothers

King Friday By King Kwofi
Directed By Benjamin Stark

Heavy Rubber Gloves By Hollywood Horses
Directed By Lauren Musgrove and Alex Kiker

Challenger By Mike Edel
Directed By Jordan Clarke

Labor Of Love (Ozzie D.) by Shaun Judah
Directed By Hayden Bryars

The Cigarette By Qualifier
Directed By Logan Freeman

Cello By Alessandra Doninelli
Directed By Alberto Nacci

Double Indemnity By Impala
Directed By Edward Valibus

Mediocrity, For Micah Dahl Anderson (who is amazing and not mediocre)
Directed By Drew Danburry

Blackboard By Jaco
Directed By Jake Waitzman

Visionland by C1ub:AM
Directed By Ian Miller

But First
Directed By Erin Brown Thomas

Heart Killer By Dr. Dog
Directed By Brenden Hubbard
Sunday August 25, 2019 10:25am - 11:25am CDT
ASFA Black Box Theatre
  Shorts Block
  • Run Time 1hr

10:35am CDT

SHOUT Shorts 1
Buy Tickets
WYSIWYG
(Alabama Film) Directed by Kenzie Greer
3 minutes • USA
Documentary
Featuring Maddie Conaway, who shares her inspirational and moving story about transitioning. She discusses the journey of coming out, and the power of self-acceptance.

Crashing Waves
Directed by Emma Gilbertson
3:39 minutes • UK
Narrative
Liam and Jamie engage in a combative dance which explores their intimacy and vulnerability.

Fuck
Directed by Vern Hass
2:48 Minutes • USA
Narrative
A one word journey through an unsuspecting freshman’s sexual trials, tribulations, and revelations during her first semester of college.

Cognitive
Directed by Mat Hayes
14:30 minutes
Narrative
What if growing up in the church led you to believe you weren't going to grow up at all?

Engaged
Directed by David Scala
16:58 Minutes • USA
Narrative
Starring Daniel K. Isaac (BILLIONS) and Ryan Jamaal Swain (POSE). ENGAGED is an LGBT comedic drama that follows Darren, who keeps trying – and failing – to propose to his boyfriend Elliot.

Jeremiah
Directed by Kenya Gillespie
9:41 Minutes • USA
Narrative
An Asian-American high school football player confronts his deepest fears after an encounter with a mysterious figure.

Jack and Anna
Directed by Ksenia Ivanova
14:35 minutes • USA
"Jack and Anna" is an MFA thesis film based on true events that happened in the early 1900s in Colorado. It tells a story of a young couple who live a happy life on their farm when suddenly a man from the past reveals Jack’s biggest secret – that he is, in fact, a woman named Helen Hilsher. After the revelation Helen is put on trial for cross-dressing and same-sex marriage.

Goddess House
Directed by Marion Hill
6:15 minutes • USA
Narrative
The Queen of the Goddess House will not rise from bed today. The Goddess House court must summon the only one who can help. Goddess House shows us what consensual, beautiful, queer sex work looks like.

Boys of My Youth
Directed by Christian Meola
4:51 minutes • USA
Documentary
Boys of My Youth is an autobiographical visual essay and documentary that explores the relationship between sexuality and memory from a gay perspective.

Something About Alex
Directed by Reinout Hellenthal
18:00 minutes • Netherlands
Narrative
A young teenager develops a close friendship with his older sister's boyfriend, and must confront the depth of his feelings when the couple announces that they will be moving away.

Misdirection
Directed by Carly Usdin
13:58 minutes
Narrative
Camila is your average college freshman with obsessive-compulsive disorder and a big, gay crush on her roommate. After both situations come to a head in a near car crash, Cam is stuck trying to find a distraction. A chance encounter with a street magician teaches her to channel her misguided energy into a new hobby, and to open her heart to new possibilities.

















Sunday August 25, 2019 10:35am - 12:25pm CDT
ASFA Recital Hall
  Shorts Block, Documentaries & Narratives
  • Spotlight SHOUT
  • Run Time 1hr 45min

11:00am CDT

ENCORE: Wonders of the World
Adapted from a feature-length screenplay by “Big Fish” author Daniel Wallace and produced by the students at the 2019 Afilm Camp, “Wonders of the World” tells the story of Mr. Morgan’s World of Wonders Family Circus and Traveling Orphanage. The orphaned carny kids seek a better life away from the circus, but they are afraid they won't fit in. A group of unlikely hero students from a nearby school band together with the carny kids to help them escape. — Scott Ross
Sunday August 25, 2019 11:00am - 11:45am CDT
Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema (A)
  Short, Narrative
  • Spotlight Family
  • Filmmaker Scheduled to Attend Yes

11:00am CDT

XR Interactive (First Contact, Trover Saves the Universe Google Spotlight Stories, Easter Rising: Voice of a Rebel, Remembering, SPHERES, The Great C, Found, The Bond, Dispatch Eleven Eleven
Filmmakers
JR
LG
OR
OR
PO
RD
S
SM

Sunday August 25, 2019 11:00am - 7:00pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR

11:30am CDT

Close
An auditory experience that highlights the discomfort of unwanted sexual advances in the workplace.
Filmmakers
avatar for Richard Lin

Richard Lin

Visual Artist
Taiwanese visual artist born and raised in Southern California. (IG: @richardtaotaolin)

Sunday August 25, 2019 11:30am - 11:34am CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Narrative

11:30am CDT

Alabama Foodies Shorts - Encore
PIE IN THE PUSS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF PIEING IN FILM
Directed by Stacey Davis
9 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
From a pie in the face, to the pie toss, to the ultimate pie fight -- the evolution of pieing in film.

Vishwesh Bhatt: The South I Love
Directed by Nicole Du Bois
7 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Follow along with Vishwesh Bhatt as he recounts his journey from cooking for beer money to celebrated chef.

A Woman’s Place
Directed by Callie Walls and Jennifer Wells
9 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
The high-end culinary world has traditionally been a boy’s club, and pioneering women chefs and restaurant owners in Birmingham are trying to change that.

Beautiful Rainbow
Directed by Heather Rickles
5 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Matthew and Tay work their way up from a farm to table educational program to the real workforce using determination, and a little bit of swag.

Plated Prose
Directed by Ava Lowrey
7 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Ravi Howard digs through the Lupton Collection at the University of Alabama, discovering self-crafted narratives and the voices of those who wrote before him.

Who’s Your Farmer?
Directed by Jess Lingle
14 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Do you know where your food comes from? And you can’t say “the grocery store.”

One Stop
Directed by Ava Lowrey
7 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Owner Heather Ehl and cook Patrick McMillan have been working together for 20+ years at Mac’s 1 Stop, a gas station and lunch counter that feeds Birmingham’s downtown laborers.
Filmmakers
AL
CW
HR
JW
JL
ND
avatar for Stacey Davis

Stacey Davis

Attorney/Filmmaker, The Law Firm of Stacey A. Davis/Under The Couch Entertainment
Entertainment lawyer; Filmmaker

Sunday August 25, 2019 11:30am - 12:30pm CDT
Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema (B)
  Shorts Block, Documentary
  • Spotlight Alabama
  • Run Time 58 min

11:45am CDT

Sunday Kids Shorts
Buy Tickets
This block is great for older kids (elementary school and up).

Charlotte and Charlie
Directed by Artemis Anastasiodou
11 minutes • USA
When a young woman suffers vision loss, she realizes that she has to give up her beloved car, Charlie.


Shoot the Duck
Directed by Shannon Silva
8 minutes • USA
Twelve-year-old Mia has her sights set on winning the local skating rink's "8th Annual Shoot the Duck Skate Contest."

The Time Tree
Directed by Celine Cotran
20 minutes • UK
1596. Anne, a deaf girl, bullied by the maids and mistresses who look after her, finds solace when she comes across a magical tree.

Ribbons
Directed by Marcela Cantú Serrano
15 minutes • USA
Lucy is a studious high school junior who dreams of attending the Sadie Hawkins dance with Tomás, a classmate who keeps to himself and sits behind her in Spanish class.

The Adventures of Wonderboy
Directed by Marti Young and Alan Brazzell
11 minutes • USA
When the nefarious Dr. Black threatens the future of Nashville, it's up to Wonderboy to save the day.
Filmmakers
AB
AA
CC
avatar for Marcela Cantú Serrano

Marcela Cantú Serrano

Writer-Director, Besos Con Sal Productions, LLC.
I am a writer-director based in Los Angeles, CA. Born and raised in Mexico, I graduated from Boston University in 2016 with a degree in Film & Television and Gender Studies and have since worked as an executive assistant to several writers, producers, and directors on feature films... Read More →
MY
SS

Sunday August 25, 2019 11:45am - 12:47pm CDT
McWane Center Rushton Theatre
  Shorts Block, Narrative

11:50am CDT

En Machina
Two inventors, Steve and Steve, create the world's first true artificial intelligence in their garage.
Filmmakers
LB

Sunday August 25, 2019 11:50am - 12:03pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Narrative

12:10pm CDT

Pizza, A Love Story
Buy Tickets
“Pizza, A Love Story” is an engaging documentary about three historical pizzerias in New Haven, Connecticut. Many consider Sally's Apizza, Frank Pepe's Pizzeria Napoletana and Modern Apizza to be the three best pizza restaurants on the planet. The film delightfully weaves the history of pizza in America with stories of family, tradition, immigrant-founded businesses and community. “Pizza, A Love Story” will make you want to take a road trip to New Haven and pick your favorite. — Hayes Killian
Filmmakers
avatar for Gorman Bechard

Gorman Bechard

Gorman Bechard has directed 16 feature films including rock documentaries on The Replacements, Grant Hart, Archers of Loaf, Lydia Loveless, Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, and soon Wilco's Jay Bennett, plus the animal-rights film A Dog Named Gucci, the horror-comedy Psychos in Love... Read More →


Sunday August 25, 2019 12:10pm - 1:35pm CDT
ASFA Black Box Theatre
  Feature, Documentary

12:15pm CDT

Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project sponsored by Hoover's Magazine, Vestavia Hills Magazine, and Mountain Brook Magazine
Buy Tickets
In 2012, civil rights activist Marion Stokes passed away in her Philadelphia apartment, leaving behind 70,000 VHS tapes of television recordings. For more than 30 years, beginning with the Iranian hostage crisis, Stokes recorded multiple networks 24 hours a day, providing one of the most comprehensive archives of cable and network news in existence. But why? This fascinating documentary examines both the life of the reclusive Stokes and the notion of historical preservation as an important form of political activism. — Corey Craft
Filmmakers
MW


Sunday August 25, 2019 12:15pm - 1:42pm CDT
Birmingham Museum of Art
  Feature, Documentary

12:15pm CDT

Safe Spaces sponsored by Southern Jewish Life
Buy Tickets
A NYC professor spends a week re-connecting with his family while defending his reputation over controversial behavior at his college.
Filmmakers
DS


Sunday August 25, 2019 12:15pm - 1:48pm CDT
Alabama Theatre
  Feature, Narrative

12:15pm CDT

Cold Case Hammarskjöld sponsored by Alain Bouchard & Deanna Newman
Buy Tickets
“Cold Case Hammarskjöld” is a documentary about the death of U.N. General Secretary Dag Hammarskjöld, whose airplane crashed in Northern Rhodesia in 1961. The plane was believed to have been shot down by a Belgian-British mercenary pilot. But new evidence suggests the assassination is just the beginning of a story involving the CIA, MI-6, and an extremist cover-up. “Cold Case Hammarskjöld” will definitely keep you guessing up until the end. — Charlie Brown Sanders
Filmmakers
MB


Sunday August 25, 2019 12:15pm - 2:23pm CDT
RMTC Cabaret Theatre
  Feature, Documentary

12:20pm CDT

Fluchtpunkt
Tonight is the great vernissage, the first major exhibition of artist, Carlotta Carlsen, but what could be delaying her arrival?
Filmmakers
BB

Sunday August 25, 2019 12:20pm - 12:27pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Narrative

12:20pm CDT

Mystify: Michael Hutchence sponsored by Green Again
Buy Tickets
“Mystify” tells the story of INXS frontman Michael Hutchence, a full-blown star whose life was cut tragically short in 1997. Told almost entirely through home movies and interviews with close friends, the film presents two versions of Hutchence: the untamed spirit with an endless curiosity for the world, and later, a man who was robbed of that spirit after a freak accident. A deeply personal film, it offers us one of the most intimate glimpses of mega-stardom ever put to film. — Kyle McKinnon
Filmmakers
RL


Sunday August 25, 2019 12:20pm - 2:08pm CDT
Lyric Theatre
  Feature, Documentary

12:25pm CDT

ENCORE: Ocean Quest sponsored by Alabama Waldorf School
This lively documentary follows a group of junior high students who surprised the world by advancing to the semi-finals of the international Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE competition. Pitted against elite teams from prestigious research institutions and universities, the kids cope with adolescent life while trying to perfect their innovative solution to mapping the ocean floor. A showcase of innocent humor and competitive determination, the film demonstrates the rewards of persevering to the end. — Charlie Brown Sanders
Sunday August 25, 2019 12:25pm - 1:15pm CDT
Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema (A)
  Feature, Documentary

12:25pm CDT

Secret Screening
Buy Tickets
Sunday August 25, 2019 12:25pm - 1:55pm CDT
ASFA Dorothy Jemison Day Theater
  Feature
  • Filmmaker Scheduled to Attend Yes
  • Run Time 1hr 30min

12:40pm CDT

See Me
An exploration of women reclaiming their sexuality from patriarchy.
Filmmakers
AR

Sunday August 25, 2019 12:40pm - 12:45pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Narrative

12:40pm CDT

Pageant Material

Still recovering from the death of his mother, seventeen-year-old Rodney dreams of escaping his small southern hometown in pursuit of following in his mother’s footsteps as an award-winning pageant queen. Despite an onslaught of bullying and abuse from his step-father, step-brothers, and classmates, Rodney calls upon his best friend Monique and a unique cast of southern characters to help him take the crown in an upcoming teen drag pageant in Atlanta, GA.
This coming-of-age southern dramedy is about following your dreams, overcoming adversity, and forging down your own road no matter how treacherous the path. Imagine if John Waters gave us a movie with a little bit of To Wong Foo, a touch of Steel Magnolias, and the heart of Little Miss Sunshine all bundled as a loose adaptation of Cinderella. That’s “Pageant Material.”

Sunday August 25, 2019 12:40pm - 1:54pm CDT
ASFA Lecture Hall
  Feature, Narrative

1:00pm CDT

Goodbye Paradise
Learn first hand the devastating effects that climate change is having on a community on the Pacific Ocean.
Filmmakers
avatar for Scott E. Schimmel

Scott E. Schimmel

Scott E. Schimmel is a O‘ahu based environmental scientist and documentary filmmaker. His award winning work explores justice, the environment, and the enduring curiosity of the human spirit, and has been broadcast on public television and screened at festivals around the world... Read More →

Sunday August 25, 2019 1:00pm - 1:05pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Documentary

1:00pm CDT

Sidewrite Table Reads
Join us for read-throughs of the Best Short Screenplay, Best Alabama Screenplay, and Best Feature Screenplay from the 2019 edition of Sidewrite. We’ll be reading “Found Objects” by Amy Bond, a scene from “The Last American Lynching” by T Gordon Stanley and Jeremy J Ford, and “Daughters Lost to the Desert” by A.M. Sanchez. This panel is free and open to the public. You do not need a festival ticket to attend.
Sunday August 25, 2019 1:00pm - 2:00pm CDT
ASFA Gallery
  Panel

1:10pm CDT

National Narratives: Notes on Grief
Buy Tickets
These shorts explore different aspects of grief and moving on after loss.

Evelyn x Evelyn (Black Lens)
Directed by Eric Pumphrey
14 minutes • USA
Narrative short
Set in 1956, an African American couple struggles with the death of their child.

In Full Bloom
Directed by Maegan Houang
11 minutes • USA
Narrative short
A surrealist short film about overcoming the loss of a partner within the parameters of living as a female Vietnamese immigrant.

Street Flame
Directed by Katherine Propper
12 minutes • USA
Narrative short
A group of skateboarders grieve the death of their friend.

Overnight
Directed by Thomas Mendolia
15 minutes • USA
Narrative short
The story of a grieving man who spends the night in his RV at a Walmart parking lot, where he finds the embrace of an unexpected community.

Aloha
Directed by Brandi Nicole Payne
13 minutes • USA
Narrative short
Aloha follows one new mom's quest to find the perfect birth announcement after the delivery of her baby doesn't go quite as planned.

Remission
Directed by John Charter
8 minutes • USA
Narrative short
Three creatures are manifestations of an unknown soldier’s war trauma and his vast, lonely pilgrimage toward emerging from a purgatory loop.

Selma After the Rain (SHOUT)
Directed by Loli Menezes
12 minutes • USA
Narrative short
Selma is a trans woman who built her life away from the family.

RAMP
Directed by Ethan Mermelstein
11 minutes • USA
Narrative short
An elderly woman becomes obsessed with returning a portable ramp to Home Depot, years after she purchased it for her recently-deceased husband.
Filmmakers
EP
EM
JC
avatar for Katherine Propper
LM
avatar for Maegan Houang
TM
avatar for Valarie Patterson

Sunday August 25, 2019 1:10pm - 2:45pm CDT
ASFA Recital Hall
  Shorts Block, Narrative

1:20pm CDT

Everest - The VR film Experience
Follow Sherpa Tenji as he attempts to climb Mt Everest without the use of bottled oxygen.
Filmmakers
JG

Sunday August 25, 2019 1:20pm - 1:31pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Documentary

1:30pm CDT

Teen Narratives
Buy Tickets
Check out some of the latest films made by teen filmmakers in Birmingham and beyond.

The Truth, Amongst Other Things (AL Film)
Directed by Sydney Simmons
7 minutes • USA
Lifelong friends are torn apart by a misunderstanding.

Socks: A Story About Pairs
Directed by Callahan Bracken
2 minutes • Canada
Learn to feel close in a story about pairs! Seyward and Milo compete for ownership over a mushroom as they attempt to complete their collection of pairs.

Sanguine
Directed by Cade Langsdon
6 minutes • USA
A visual exploration of the perspectives of two chronically ill children and their daily challenges associated with their diseases.

Ground Control
Directed by Quinn Fluet
16 minutes • USA
They came, and then They left. Two childhood friends (Zach Hill & Lindsey Belisle) grow up under the shadow of an alien arrival, and uneventful departure.

When We Were One
Directed by Tadji Ulrich
10 minutes • Australia
The attraction between Aimee and Will, two theatre students, is instant, as if they have created their own world.

Lost For Words
Directed by Aidan Ellis
5 minutes • USA
Samuel M. heads to the school observatory for a night under the stars, but after stumbling upon a mysterious phenomenon, he ends up discovering more than he bargained for.

MOTHER
Directed by Ejun Hong
3 minutes • Slovakia
This is a story about my 92-year-old grandfather, who lost his mother when he was only 3 years old. Although a sudden death took his mother away from him, it could never stop his love and longing for his mother.

Birthday Girl (SHOUT)
Directed by Jim Fall
6 minutes • USA
On her birthday, Brynn (formerly Brian) is surprised by her mother and friends. Will her father show up to the party or continue to miss out on seeing his daughter grow up?
Filmmakers
AE
CL
CB
avatar for Ejun Hong

Ejun Hong

I am Ejun Hong from South Korea currently living in Slovakia. I am the director of an animated film, "MOTHER". I was born in Edmonton, Canada in 2002. I am a 16-year-old passionate high school student dreaming of becoming an animation director. It has been my dream since I was 10... Read More →
JF
avatar for Quinn Fluet

Quinn Fluet

Founder, Side St. Films
Hi! I'm a longtime student filmmaker, and a screenwriting major at Savannah College of Art & Design. I always welcome advice and critiques, and I'm hoping to start entering my features and pilots into competitions soon.
SS
TU

Sunday August 25, 2019 1:30pm - 2:28pm CDT
McWane Center Rushton Theatre
  Shorts Block, Narrative

1:30pm CDT

Ladies Horror Night Podcast LIVE
THIS EVENT IS FREE

Ever wonder what it’s like to work in a video store with your best friend? Hosts and former video store clerks, Kate McEdwards and Daphne Gardner, invite the audience to join them for another typical day behind the counter. Delivering hot takes on some of their favorite female-centric horror films, talking problematic faves, and breaking down the hottest villains in the genre, all with a little help from the audience and some very special guests.
Speakers
avatar for Daphne Gardner

Daphne Gardner

Daphne Gardner is a filmmaker, writer, and performer. She is an in-house director for Comedy Central's digital team by day, and hosts LADIES HORROR NIGHT Podcast with Kate McEdwards by night.
avatar for Kate McEdwards

Kate McEdwards

Kate McEdwards is currently a Senior Publicist at IFC Films / Sundance Selects / IFC Midnight. Her background is in video store clerking, movie marathons, and co-hosts Ladies Horror Night Podcast. She is based in New York.

Sunday August 25, 2019 1:30pm - 3:00pm CDT
Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema (B)
  Special Event

1:50pm CDT

Traveling While Black
Traveling While Black is a cinematic VR experience that immerses the viewer in the long history of restriction of movement for black Americans and the creation of safe spaces in our communities.
Filmmakers
RR

Sunday August 25, 2019 1:50pm - 2:08pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Documentary & Narrative

2:00pm CDT

Gay Chorus Deep South sponsored by Druid City Pride
Buy Tickets
Filmed during the emotionally charged period following the 2016 presidential election, “Gay Chorus Deep South” documents the journey of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus while on their performance tour through Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and the Carolinas. This film poignantly follows SFGMC members with Southern roots, as they return home and meet people in communities affected by the tour as well as community members who are on the front lines fighting for love and acceptance. — Charlie Bice
Filmmakers
DC


Sunday August 25, 2019 2:00pm - 3:40pm CDT
First Church of Birmingham
  Feature, Documentary

2:00pm CDT

ENCORE: Shedding
Sunday August 25, 2019 2:00pm - 4:00pm CDT
Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema (A)
  Feature, Narrative
  • Spotlight Family
  • Filmmaker Scheduled to Attend Yes

2:20pm CDT

Olympia
Buy Tickets
This mostly observational documentary is a captivating and well-crafted look at super talented, Academy Award-winning and general badass actress Olympia Dukakis. Constructed of archival footage, prior and current interviews and, most dynamically, recent observational footage that covers her 80th birthday and an emotional trip to Greece, “Olympia” looks back at an extraordinary life and contemplates the road ahead. — Rachel Morgan
Filmmakers
HC


Sunday August 25, 2019 2:20pm - 4:03pm CDT
ASFA Black Box Theatre
  Feature, Documentary

2:25pm CDT

Gloomy Eyes
Filmmakers
JT

Sunday August 25, 2019 2:25pm - 2:32pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Narrative

2:30pm CDT

The Television Life Cycle w/ Rachel Raimist
Rachel Raimist will break down the current life cycle of television programming. She’ll also discuss the hierarchy of writers’ rooms, how to get hired and represented, and basically anything else you’d want to know about writing and working in television. This panel is free and open to the public. You do not need a festival ticket to attend.
Speakers
RR

Sunday August 25, 2019 2:30pm - 3:30pm CDT
ASFA Gallery
  Panel

2:30pm CDT

The Cat Rescuers
Buy Tickets
It’s estimated that half a million abandoned or feral cats live in New York City. With shelters full and animals euthanized every day, volunteers hit the streets of all five boroughs to trap these cats, have them spayed or neutered, and re-release them. But it’s a tough road for these cat lovers to tend to their often-suffering charges. This loving documentary is a portrait of the hardy rescuers who make saving as many cats as possible their life’s work. — Corey Craft
Filmmakers
RF
SL


Sunday August 25, 2019 2:30pm - 3:57pm CDT
Birmingham Museum of Art
  Feature, Documentary

2:35pm CDT

Knives and Skin
Buy Tickets
Big River is living in the shadow of missing teenager Carolyn Harper. Haunted and sad, the town is stuck in a chaotic funnel cloud of grief and looming doom. It’s easy to draw comparisons to “Twin Peaks” and “Donnie Darko” and even “Riverdale” and “Serial,” yet Knives and Skin is wholly original — beautiful and gross, feminine and androgynous, hopeless and joyous and brutally relevant in its poetic investigation of a doomed world. — Rachel Morgan
Filmmakers
JR


Sunday August 25, 2019 2:35pm - 4:30pm CDT
Alabama Theatre
  Feature, Narrative

2:40pm CDT

Sword of Trust sponsored by Golden Flake
Buy Tickets
Shot on location and set in Birmingham, this easy-going but darkly dramatic comedy centers on a recently bequeathed sword with a dubious history — a relic that comes with bizarre documentation claiming the South won the Civil War. The laugh-out-loud entertaining (and increasingly absurd) storyline is expertly delivered by a talented cast, who bring real depth to the misfit group of characters, led by Marc Maron’s reluctant pawnshop owner Mel, who try to sell the sword to true believers. — Ashley B. Little
Filmmakers
LS

Sponsors
avatar for Golden Flake

Golden Flake

Golden Flake


Sunday August 25, 2019 2:40pm - 4:08pm CDT
ASFA Dorothy Jemison Day Theater
  Feature, Narrative

2:50pm CDT

Girl Icon
Around the world, 130 million girls do not have the opportunity to go school. Meet Rani, a 17-year-old from Varanasi, India, who is part of a growing movement of fearless girls leading change in their communities.
Filmmakers
SE

Sunday August 25, 2019 2:50pm - 2:58pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Documentary

3:00pm CDT

Animated Shorts sponsored by Canary Gallery
Buy Tickets
My Moon
Directed by Eusong Lee
8 minutes • USA
Animated short
A relationship between three celestial bodies; a romance between Earth, Moon, and Sun.

A Certain Kind of Love
Directed by Richard O'Connor
3 minutes • USA - AL
Animated short
Glenda fell for Lauree at a time when both women felt societal pressure to pursue traditional paths.

Here
Directed by Robert-Jonathan Koeyers
6 minutes • Netherlands
Animated short
An experimental visual poem inviting people to step into the lived Black experience for a moment.

Starvation
Directed by Zahra Rostampour
7 minutes • Iran
Animated short
A hungry wolf gets stuck in stereotypes about being the big bad wolf of the story.

Still Lives
Directed by Elli Vuorinen
6 minutes • Finland
Animated short
Traditional folk art figurines are exploring the theme of busy stillness.

The Elephant's Song
Directed by Lynn Tomlinson
8 minutes • USA
Animated short
The true and tragic tale of Old Bet, the first circus elephant in America.

UNSOLICITED
Directed by Meg Cook
1 minute • USA
Animated short
A woman's initial excitement at getting a message quickly turns sour.

I Alone Can Fix It
Directed by Bill Plympton
1 minute • USA
As Trump’s pronouncements become increasingly unhinged, his head peels like an orange, his brain floats away, and all that’s left is a tiny mouth.

Ritual
Directed by Gyuri Cloe Lee
2 minutes • South Korea
Animated short
Repetition becomes a habit. A habit becomes a ritual.

Access to Excess
Directed by Tom Coute
3 minutes • USA
Animated short
Unlimited choices power this microcosm of industrialized societies where products attempt to fill empty voids.

girl in a room with a flying cat
Directed by Sofiya Fayzieva
2 minutes • USA
Animated short
A contemplative journey through memories of childhood.

Code Ruth
Directed by Caroline Voagen Nelson
4 minutes • USA
Animated short
A true love story about a Morse code instructor finding her path during WWII.

R.I.P.
Directed by Cooper Haskell
8 minutes • USA
Animated short
A procrastinating writer sleeps his life away on the New York City Subway.

The Message From Space
Directed by Grier Dill
8 minutes • USA
Animated short
Earth receives a message from deep space showing how to create a new miracle substance. Here is its history.

Stealing Sheep "Show Love"
Directed by Gyuri Cloe Lee
3 minutes • South Korea
Music Video
Aliens from outer space visit Earth to spread love, which unfortunately takes the form of comets -- equally explosive, destructive, and ecstatic.

Ai Can
Directed by Mengxi Yang
5 minutes • USA
Documentary short
A portrait of a man who suffers from mental illness, but never stopped making his art during years of retirement.

That Long & Lonesome Road to Grandma's
Directed by Felipe Di Poi Tamargo
14 minutes • USA
Animated short
Sue and Kath are on a road trip with Sue's mom to visit her grandma.
Filmmakers
BP

Bill Plympton

Director, Cheatin'
avatar for Caroline Voagen Nelson

Caroline Voagen Nelson

Filmmaker + Media Artist
I'm a filmmaker and media artist making mixed media animated works inspired by history. My projects are typically linked by themes of antiquated technologies and environments in flux. The process of creating these works blends the physical and digital: I physically build sets and... Read More →
avatar for Cooper Haskell

Cooper Haskell

Cooper Haskell is an award-winning animator from New York City.
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EL
FD
GD
GC
avatar for Lynn Tomlinson
avatar for Meg Cook

Meg Cook

Meg Cook recently graduated with her Master of Fine Arts from Texas A&M University. She received her BFA in Animation from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2015. It was there that she created her first stop motion animated short, TLC: Tough Lovin' Care. After trying out online... Read More →
avatar for Mengxi Yang

Mengxi Yang

Animator from China. Currently located in LA, attending grad school at Calarts experimental animation.
RO
avatar for Robert-Jonathan Koeyers

Robert-Jonathan Koeyers

Artist + Filmmaker
Robert-Jonathan Koeyers (Curaçao, 1992) is a multidisciplinary artist and storyteller using a combination of film, photography and animation to tell often deeply personal and introspective stories that set out to dissect the human condition and tries to understand why people work... Read More →
SF

Sofiya Fayzieva

My name is Sofiya, but I go by Sonya, the story behind the names is as long as the story of how I ended up in the US. One thing I like to do, however, is to tell stories. Whether they are funny or sad, whether they are about my family in Russia or my friends in the States – I bring... Read More →
avatar for Tom Coute

Tom Coute

The littlest of the neighborhood kids, Tom Coute was born and raised in Dennis, Massachusetts. Using personal experiences and ideas obtained from extensive reading, Tom’s work usually revolves around surreal but uncannily familiar visual metaphors. These help him understand the... Read More →
ZR

Sunday August 25, 2019 3:00pm - 4:26pm CDT
ASFA Lecture Hall
  Shorts Block, Animated

3:00pm CDT

NPR's White Lies
Buy Tickets
1965, Rev. James Reeb was murdered in Selma, Alabama. Three men were tried and acquitted, but no one was ever held to account. Fifty years later, two journalists from Alabama return to the town where it happened, expose the lies that kept the murder from being solved and uncover a story about guilt and memory that says as much about America today as it does about the past.

Join the hosts of NPR’s White Lies podcast, Chip Brantley and Andrew Beck Grace, as they share the definitive story of what happened to Rev. James Reeb – and the long road they took to get there.

Plus live performances from Duquette Johnston and The Dexateens!
Speakers
AB

Sunday August 25, 2019 3:00pm - 4:30pm CDT
Lyric Theatre
  Special Event

3:10pm CDT

Frances Ferguson
Buy Tickets
Frances, a young mother and substitute teacher, is bored with her life and resentful of her terrible husband. So she blows it all up and starts an inappropriate relationship with a student. Of course, they are inevitably caught. What’s life like after jail for a pretty young sex offender in her 20s? No, this is not a typical setup for a comedy, but director Bob Byington’s look at a felonious teacher-student dalliance is prickly, deadpan, a bit misanthropic, and hilarious. — Corey Craft
Filmmakers
BB


Sunday August 25, 2019 3:10pm - 4:25pm CDT
RMTC Cabaret Theatre
  Feature, Narrative
  • Country of Origin USA
  • Run Time 1hr 15min
  • Trailer trailer not available

3:15pm CDT

Wombsong
A pregnant dancer leads the audience to an imaginary world inside the womb.
Filmmakers
avatar for Hanna Västinsalo

Hanna Västinsalo

Director, Thinkseed
I did my Ph.D. in molecular genetics at the University of Helsinki and studied film directing at the American Film Institute Conservatory in Los Angeles, CA. I've directed several short projects, a virtual reality dance project, a feature documentary about a Finnish entrepreneur and... Read More →

Sunday August 25, 2019 3:15pm - 3:22pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Experimental

3:30pm CDT

Episodic
Buy Tickets
Here you’ll find a sampling of some of the best new web series.

Tough Love (SHOUT)
Directed by James Mackenzie
13 minutes • USA
Join Nikki's painful and comedic quest to find a unicorn: (1) someone (male, female, non-binary) that she's madly attracted to, who (2) understands her approach to sexuality, (3) also wants to be around her, and, maybe most importantly, (4) is actually a good person.

Rainbow Ruthie
Directed by Ruth Marantz
21 minutes • USA
An ex teen star from Manhattan Public Access TV in the nineties decides to relive her glory days.

KYNNSTLAH
Directed by Sandra Bertalanffy and Joel Fendelman
4 minutes • USA
A short documentary series where we discover visual and performing artists and their art.

The Tall Bike Joust
Directed by Sam Frazier, Jr.
15 minutes, USA (AL Film)
Misguided people from various walks of life meet in a craft brewery's parking lot to joust on bicycles of double the normal height, raise money for a charity, and to attempt to recapture the American Dream.

Beth and the Blob
Directed by Dustin Cañez
22 minutes • USA
Beth McTwitty is forced to face her crippling anxiety when she barfs it up in the form of a bewildering blob.
Filmmakers
DC
JM
avatar for Joel Fendelman

Joel Fendelman

Director, Fendelman Films
With roots in Miami, Austin and New York City, Joel Fendelman has written, produced and directed a number of award-winning narrative and documentary films.Joel most recently received an IDA Documentary Award for his fourth feature film "Man on Fire", a documentary about a white Texas... Read More →
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avatar for Ruth Marantz

Ruth Marantz

Writer/ Director
avatar for Sam Frazier

Sam Frazier

Desperate To Be Different Productions
I make comedic short documentaries of intelligent & successful people doing stupid things for no apparent reason (except that it's really fun).
SB

Sunday August 25, 2019 3:30pm - 4:45pm CDT
ASFA Recital Hall
  Shorts Block, Narrative

3:30pm CDT

The Karate Kid (1984)
Buy Tickets
New kid in town Daniel LaRusso befriends his apartment complex’s handyman and all-around karate genius, Mr. Miyagi. Good thing because Daniel’s new crush, Ali, has an unscrupulous bully of an ex-boyfriend who isn’t too happy about Daniel’s recent relocation. “The Karate Kid” gave us William Zabka, Bananarama's "Cruel Summer” and one of the most epic film montages of all time. The movie celebrates its 35-year anniversary as part of the Family Fest lineup at the 2019 Sidewalk Film Festival. — Rachel Morgan
Filmmakers
JG


Sunday August 25, 2019 3:30pm - 5:36pm CDT
McWane Center Rushton Theatre
  Feature, Narrative

3:40pm CDT

Close
An auditory experience that highlights the discomfort of unwanted sexual advances in the workplace.
Filmmakers
avatar for Richard Lin

Richard Lin

Visual Artist
Taiwanese visual artist born and raised in Southern California. (IG: @richardtaotaolin)

Sunday August 25, 2019 3:40pm - 3:44pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Narrative

3:55pm CDT

En Machina
Two inventors, Steve and Steve, create the world's first true artificial intelligence in their garage.
Filmmakers
LB

Sunday August 25, 2019 3:55pm - 4:08pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Narrative

4:00pm CDT

Performing Queerness: Beyond Drag
Pink Box Burlesque and Josh Burford of the Invisible Histories Project will discuss performing queerness, past and present. This event is free and open to the public. You do not need a festival ticket to attend. Pink Box Burlesque was founded in 2008 and is Alabama’s longest running burlesque troupe. The Invisible Histories Project is designed to be a repository for the preservation of the history of LGBTQ life first in the state of Alabama and then the entire Southeast. The archive will preserve, collect, and protect the living history of the diversity of the Queer community–both urban and rural. Using the Alabama site as a model, IHP is currently expanding into Mississippi and Georgia with aims to reach the entirety of the Southeast within 10 years.
Speakers
JB
MD
MS
WW

Sunday August 25, 2019 4:00pm - 5:00pm CDT
ASFA Gallery
  Panel

4:00pm CDT

Alabama Doc Shorts: Profiles Encore
People of Alabama: My Friend the Goose
Directed by Tamika Moore and Lauren Musgrove
5 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Tracy Wilhelm, an elementary school art teacher, shares a unique relationship with Lucas, a goose living in the Fairhope duck pond.

Uncle Glen’s Hygienic Panty
Directed by Jeff Jeffcoat
25 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
In 1992, Jeff was a young actor in LA with a budding career when a bizarre VHS tape arrived from his wayward Uncle Glen.

Spirit Citizen
Directed by Nick Corrao
5 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
A short exploration of internationally exhibited Cheyenne-Arapaho artist Edgar Heap of Birds’ connection to, inspiration from, and commitment to the land.

Hidden Voices
Directed by Matthew Brooks, Michael Cooper, and Holly White
9 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Being a minority religion in the Bible Belt can be a challenge, especially for those who left their churches for pagan practices.

Reaching New Heights: Russellville’s Rocket Team
Directed by J. Whitson
27 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
In 2015, the Russellville City School Engineering Team won the International Rocketry Challenge at the Paris Air Show.

1108 Dynamite Hill
Directed by Mary Campbell Kitchens and Joseph Quintana
9 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Life-long Birmingham resident Jeff Drew shows us terrorism is far from a new phenomenon.

SOME MILLION MILES
Directed by Jared Ragland and Adam Forrester
13 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Set within a rural landscape of abundant beauty and deep poverty, this film is a meditation on loss and the search for redemption amidst systemic social and economic marginalization.

Ladylike
Directed by Rachel Bickert, Emily Tapanes, Emma Wang, and Lidieth Arevalo
20 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
A young queer woman comes to terms with her sexuality, shattering her deep-rooted religious beliefs and cultural stereotypes within her conservative community, family and self.

Filmmakers
AF
ET
EW
HW
JW
avatar for Jared Ragland

Jared Ragland

Photographer / Director
Jared Ragland (MFA, Tulane) is a fine art and documentary photographer and former White House photo editor. His first documentary film, SOME MILLION MILES (co-directed with Adam Forrester), is part of an long-term visual ethnographic study of methamphetamine use in rural northeast... Read More →
JJ
JQ
LM
LA
MC
MB
MC
NC
RB
TM

Sunday August 25, 2019 4:00pm - 6:00pm CDT
Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema (B)
  Shorts Block, Documentary

4:25pm CDT

Fluchtpunkt
Tonight is the great vernissage, the first major exhibition of artist, Carlotta Carlsen, but what could be delaying her arrival?
Filmmakers
BB

Sunday August 25, 2019 4:25pm - 4:32pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Narrative

4:40pm CDT

Always In Season
Buy Tickets
This poignant documentary explores the suspicious 2014 death of Lennon Lacy, an African-American teen who many believe was lynched in his hometown in rural North Carolina. And with Jacqueline Olive’s brilliant storytelling, the film — a Special Jury winner at Sundance — chronicles the barbaric history of lynching throughout America. This moving piece of cinema brings up intense emotions, even fury, as it depicts an historical plethora of racial injustices that have not stayed in the past. — J Matthew Cobb
Filmmakers
avatar for Jacqueline Olive


Sunday August 25, 2019 4:40pm - 6:10pm CDT
First Church of Birmingham
  Feature, Documentary

4:45pm CDT

See Me
An exploration of women reclaiming their sexuality from patriarchy.
Filmmakers
AR

Sunday August 25, 2019 4:45pm - 4:50pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Narrative

4:45pm CDT

Light From Light
Buy Tickets
In rural Tennessee, a part-time paranormal investigator and single mom takes the case of a lonely widower whose wife died in a plane crash. He thinks his wife’s ghost still haunts their farmhouse; though reluctant, she agrees to investigate, and her teenage son and his would-be girlfriend tag along. What follows is less a ghost story than a searing, reserved emotional drama about unresolved issues and loneliness, beautifully performed amid the misty backdrops of the Great Smoky Mountains. — Corey Craft
Filmmakers
PH


Sunday August 25, 2019 4:45pm - 6:08pm CDT
ASFA Black Box Theatre
  Feature, Narrative

4:45pm CDT

Mapplethorpe: Director's Cut sponsored by Four Corners Custom Framing
Buy Tickets
This stylish and well-crafted biopic covers the full life of its subject, world renowned and controversial photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, most frequently providing an alluring view of New York in its grittiest era. The film stars Matt Smith and is directed by the only two-time Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner, Ondi Timoner. Sidewalk is proud to host the world premiere of the director’s cut of “Mapplethorpe,” last year’s Audience Choice winner for Best Narrative Feature. — Rachel Morgan
Filmmakers
OT


Sunday August 25, 2019 4:45pm - 6:35pm CDT
Birmingham Museum of Art
  Feature, Narrative

4:55pm CDT

Shorts: Alabama Narratives sponsored by Frank's Good Stuff
Buy Tickets
Railroad Bill
Directed by Gideon C. Kennedy
4 minutes • USA
Outlaw. Hero. Myth. Three perspectives on the black train robber of the 1890s, each built from the same evocative imagery of the traditional American folk song with which it shares a name.

Two of Swords
Directed by Kelsey Harrison
3 minutes • USA
Created for Sidewalk’s 48-hour Spooky Scramble, Two of Swords reveals an eerie world of monsters and minions, playing with fate just to see you run for your life.

Missing Person
Directed by Ellie Stayner
5 minutes • USA
A girl looks for a missing person.

Cherry
Directed by Stacey Davis
12 minutes • USA
With her father dying of cancer, Helen has high hopes for the family’s last Easter together.

If The Twilight Zone Was Southern
Directed by Adam Schwartz
6 minutes • USA
The viral sketch comedy show "So True, Y'all" imagines what "The Twilight Zone" would look like if it were made by Southerners.

Bad Deal
Directed by Shane Gillis
12 minutes • USA
What is supposed to be a simple drug deal for Jody when he goes to one of the most notoriously seedy drug dealers in the city soon spirals out of control into a horrific genre bending wild ride.

The Favoured
Directed by Whitney Hamilton
3 minutes • USA
Two women seek preferential treatment in the president's administration and will go to great lengths to curry favor.

Milk Crate in the Middle
Directed by Hallie Tarpley
11 minutes • USA
A tale about a catering company working an event filled with eccentric, food averse guests.

Would You Like To Try Again?
Directed by Michael Felker
10 minutes • USA
A teenage girl runs away to a local arcade and finds a mysterious game that pushes her to replay her biggest regret.

Murder Next Door
Directed by Robert Clay
5 minutes • USA
Bob Brudowski thought it was going to be a quiet night at home, until he learns a masked murderer is on a rampage at his neighbor's house.

Losing Face
Directed by Magdalene Kennedy
7 minutes • USA
After an unexpected misadventure, Una learns how to get out of her own head, and dabbles in arson in the process.

Attendance
Directed by Steven Hedrick, Jr.
5 minutes • USA
A teacher takes attendance.

Homework
Directed by Morgan Evans
5 minutes • USA
This film was made as part of the Sidewalk film festival spooky scramble and was completed in 48 hours.
Filmmakers
AS
ES
GC

Gideon C. Kennedy

Co-Director, Climenole LLC
KH
avatar for Magdalene Kennedy

Magdalene Kennedy

Magdalene Kennedy is a writer and director from Nashville, and a recent graduate of the University of Alabama.
avatar for Michael Felker

Michael Felker

Writer/Director/ Co-Founder, Last Life
I'm a filmmaker who founded a Los Angeles based production company called Last Life that specializes in making films about people who play video games. I'm also a film editor known for feature films (The Endless, Synchronic, Spring) and children's television shows (Junk Drawer Magical... Read More →
avatar for Morgan Saucier

Morgan Saucier

CEO and Founder, Angel Wolf Productions
RC
SG
avatar for Stacey Davis

Stacey Davis

Attorney/Filmmaker, The Law Firm of Stacey A. Davis/Under The Couch Entertainment
Entertainment lawyer; Filmmaker
avatar for Steven Hedrick

Steven Hedrick

Director, Closed Stacks
avatar for Whitney Hamilton

Whitney Hamilton

Writer Director Actor, Bjornquistfilms
I'm interested in all kinds of stories and I love working in front of and/or behind the camera.

Sponsors
avatar for Frank's Good Stuff

Frank's Good Stuff

Frank's Good Stuff
We operate as the front section of Serendipity Antiques at 22335 Highway 72 e, and as the front secti

Sunday August 25, 2019 4:55pm - 6:23pm CDT
ASFA Dorothy Jemison Day Theater
  Shorts Block, Narrative

5:00pm CDT

ENCORE: Pizza, A Love Story
Filmmakers
avatar for Gorman Bechard

Gorman Bechard

Gorman Bechard has directed 16 feature films including rock documentaries on The Replacements, Grant Hart, Archers of Loaf, Lydia Loveless, Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, and soon Wilco's Jay Bennett, plus the animal-rights film A Dog Named Gucci, the horror-comedy Psychos in Love... Read More →

Sunday August 25, 2019 5:00pm - 7:00pm CDT
Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema (A)
  Feature, Documentary
  • Filmmaker Scheduled to Attend Yes

5:05pm CDT

Goodbye Paradise
Learn first hand the devastating effects that climate change is having on a community on the Pacific Ocean.
Filmmakers
avatar for Scott E. Schimmel

Scott E. Schimmel

Scott E. Schimmel is a O‘ahu based environmental scientist and documentary filmmaker. His award winning work explores justice, the environment, and the enduring curiosity of the human spirit, and has been broadcast on public television and screened at festivals around the world... Read More →

Sunday August 25, 2019 5:05pm - 5:09pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Documentary

5:10pm CDT

Foosballers sponsored by Rusty's Bar-B-Q
Buy Tickets
The highly enjoyable documentary “Foosballers” profiles six of the world’s top table soccer players as they compete for the world title. From life-long champions like former Birmingham police officer Cindy Head (yay!) to new school players like Ryan Moore (who also happens to be a Cannabis Cup winner), we get an inside look at the fiercely competitive world of professional foosball. Chronicling the little-known history of this underground sport, the film culminates in the Tornado World Championships. — Kyle McKinnon
Filmmakers
JH


Sunday August 25, 2019 5:10pm - 6:46pm CDT
RMTC Cabaret Theatre
  Feature, Documentary

5:15pm CDT

National Narratives: Growing Up
Buy Tickets
Never Land
Directed by Brett Smith
16 minutes • USA
Narrative short
NEVER LAND tells the story of an inner-city foster boy. His only escape is through his dreams, transporting him to Neverland, where all Lost Children without parents go to be loved.

The Moon & The Night
Directed by Erin Lau
20 minutes • USA
Narrative short
Set in rural Hawaiʻi, a Native Hawaiian teenage girl must confront her father after he enters her beloved pet in a dog fight.

Me 3.769
Directed by Elaine Del Valle
10 minutes • USA
Narrative short
A Pubescent Latina looks forward to her maturing body, but must soon cope with the sexual misconduct of someone she trusts.

The One You Never Forget
Directed by Morgan Jon Fox
8 minutes • USA
Narrative short
Carey, a 14 year old boy, nervously prepares for his first dance as his parents reminisce about their own.

Moderately Satisfied
Directed by Hind Anabtawi
13 minutes • United Arab Emirates
Narrative short
When visiting her terminally ill mother for the first time in months, an estranged daughter finds new answers about her relationship with her bitter mother while filling out a patient satisfaction survey.

Second Skin
Directed by Farah White
6 minutes • USA
Narrative short
An introverted young girl finds she had more in common with deceased grandmother than she could have ever possibly imagined.

Miller & Son
Directed by Asher Jelinsky
22 minutes • USA
Narrative short
A transwoman mechanic lives between running her family’s auto shop during the day and expressing her femininity at night, until an unforeseen event threatens the balance of her compartmentalized life.
Filmmakers
AJ
avatar for Brett Smith

Brett Smith

Writer - Director, 1812 Films
Brett Smith is an award winning writer, director, from Bellevue, WA. Having been involved in filmmaking for fourteen years. Brett is a self taught filmmaker, who's goal is to tell deep and emotionally challenging stories with humanity at the core.
EL
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HA
avatar for Morgan Jon Fox

Sunday August 25, 2019 5:15pm - 6:50pm CDT
ASFA Lecture Hall
  Shorts Block, Narrative

5:20pm CDT

The Cat and the Moon sponsored by Philip Woods Homebuilder
Buy Tickets
During his mother’s treatment in rehab, teenager Nick moves to New York to stay with Cal, a jazz musician friend of his late father. During his stay, Nick makes new friends who show him what the city has to offer. Dealing with mental issues of his own, Nick quickly finds himself struggling to cope. A beautiful and at times tragic story, “The Cat And The Moon” shows the complexities of teenage life in NYC. The young and exceptionally talented Alex Wolff of “Hereditary” and “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” not only stars, but makes his debut as writer and director. — Charlie Brown Sanders
Filmmakers
AW


Sunday August 25, 2019 5:20pm - 7:14pm CDT
Alabama Theatre
  Feature, Narrative

5:25pm CDT

Everest - The VR film Experience
Follow Sherpa Tenji as he attempts to climb Mt Everest without the use of bottled oxygen.
Filmmakers
JG

Sunday August 25, 2019 5:25pm - 5:36pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Documentary

5:30pm CDT

Black Lens Shorts
Buy Tickets
Black Lens Shorts
Our Black Lens programming track seeks to amplify the voices of black filmmakers and give them space to share their stories with us.

I AM TX
Directed by Ryan Darbonne
10 minutes • USA
On their last day of tour, a black punk band find themselves in awkward, surreal and life-threatening situations with an ignorant cast of characters.

ASIA A
Directed by Andrew Reid
20 minutes • USA
A recent spinal cord injury patient struggles to reconcile his sense of self-worth with his new reality as a paraplegic.

Chickens
Directed by Bryian Keith Montgomery, Jr.
13 minutes • USA
Two racist cops try to cover up killing an unarmed black teen. Things don’t go as planned.

No Traveler Returns
Directed by Ellie Foumbi
13 minutes • USA
A young African immigrant's struggles to adjust to life in America push him towards an existential crisis.

Heavenly
Directed by Ya’Ke Smith
13 minutes • USA
Crystal, a former ballet dancer, returns home after being sex-trafficked and struggles to shake the physical and psychological trauma she endured while "in the life."

Birthday Cake for Dinner
Directed by Damon Russell
12 minutes • USA
7-year old Simon takes a trip to visit his estranged father for one disaster filled weekend.

other
Directed by Xavier Burgin (AL film)
7 minutes • USA
Filmmakers
AR
avatar for Bryian Keith Montgomery

Bryian Keith Montgomery

Filmmaker, ALT-Horror
Bryian Keith Montgomery Jr. is an up-and-coming African American film director and LA native. He created the brand “Alternative Horror” in 2016 to infuse current events into his horror films, and highlight touchy issues in American culture through a unique lens.His previous short... Read More →
DR
avatar for Ellie Foumbi

Ellie Foumbi

Filmmaker
Ellie Foumbi is an actor/writer/director from Cameroon. She holds an MFA from Columbia University’s School of the Arts in Directing. She’s a Student Academy Awards Semifinalist and nominated for an African Movie Academy Award. She was invited to participate in New York Film Festival’s... Read More →
avatar for Ryan Darbonne

Ryan Darbonne

Founder, Saint Landry Films
I'm an Austin ­based filmmaker with over a decade’s worth of experience in production. I have written and directed a number of projects that have been featured on Noisey, Ovrld and other online publications. I co­founded the community arts organization Cinema 41 in 2011 (Austin... Read More →
avatar for Xavier Burgin

Xavier Burgin

Xavier Burgin attended Jefferson County’s International Baccalaureate School where he anticipated a sedentary life before receiving a presidential scholarship to The University of Alabama in 2008. Four years later, he was accepted into USC’s School of Cinematic Arts for TV & Film... Read More →
YS

Sunday August 25, 2019 5:30pm - 6:57pm CDT
ASFA Recital Hall
  Shorts Block, Narrative

5:30pm CDT

You Don't Nomi sponsored by Fig Street Marketing
Buy Tickets
Upon its 1995 release, “Showgirls” was the target of ridicule. That life of disdain continued as the film made the home video rounds, landing it on heavy rotation in dorm room heckle-a-thons and providing plenty of drinking game fodder. Decades later, numerous critics have begun to reconsider it. In addition to providing a fun tour through the film (with all the hindsight that 25 years allows), “You Don’t Nomi” asks: “Showgirls,” masterpiece or piece of crap? Fun! — Rachel Morgan
Filmmakers
JM


Sunday August 25, 2019 5:30pm - 7:02pm CDT
Lyric Theatre
  Feature, Documentary

5:50pm CDT

Traveling While Black
Traveling While Black is a cinematic VR experience that immerses the viewer in the long history of restriction of movement for black Americans and the creation of safe spaces in our communities.
Filmmakers
RR

Sunday August 25, 2019 5:50pm - 6:50pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Documentary & Narrative

6:25pm CDT

Gloomy Eyes
Filmmakers
JT

Sunday August 25, 2019 6:25pm - 6:37pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Narrative

6:45pm CDT

Olympia - Encore
This mostly observational documentary is a captivating and well-crafted look at super talented, Academy Award-winning and general badass actress Olympia Dukakis. Constructed of archival footage, prior and current interviews and, most dynamically, recent observational footage that covers her 80th birthday and an emotional trip to Greece, “Olympia” looks back at an extraordinary life and contemplates the road ahead. — Rachel Morgan
Filmmakers
HC

Sunday August 25, 2019 6:45pm - 8:15pm CDT
Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema (B)
  Feature, Documentary

6:50pm CDT

Girl Icon
Around the world, 130 million girls do not have the opportunity to go school. Meet Rani, a 17-year-old from Varanasi, India, who is part of a growing movement of fearless girls leading change in their communities.
Filmmakers
SE

Sunday August 25, 2019 6:50pm - 6:58pm CDT
Lyric Theatre Basement
  XR, Documentary

6:55pm CDT

Environmental Documentaries sponsored by Wild & Scenic Film Festival
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Sunday, August 25 • 6:55pm - 8:49pm
114 mins

River Music For All
Directed by Hunter Nichols
6 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Alabama Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Cahaba River Society discuss how spending time in nature plays a significant role in creativity.

The Accidental Environmentalist: Catherine Flowers
Directed by Ellen Esling
10 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
A mosquito bite leads an Alabama activist to solve problems at the intersection of poverty, climate change, and politics.

The Love Bugs
Directed by Allison Otto and Maria Clinton
34 minutes • USA
Documentary short
Lois, 90, and Charlie, 85, are two aging but dedicated Entomologists sharing a marriage and career for 55 years.

EXTREMOPHILES
Directed by Leah Shore
4 minutes • USA
Documentary short
A portrait film about the pollution in Brooklyn, NY and beyond.

Soiled
Directed by Magdalene Kennedy & Katie Tindol
10 minutes • USA - AL
Documentary short
Two women navigate the complexities of rural sanitation and community life in Alabama's Black Belt.

JUNK
Directed by Chris Jones
29 minutes • USA
Documentary short
A Marine veteran turned scientist teams up with a scrappy sailor and sails from California to Hawaii on a raft made of 15,000 plastic bottles.

Unaccountable
Directed by Stacey Stone
10 minutes • USA
Documentary short
The Salton Sea is the largest lake in California, and suffers from pollution and over-salination. Viewer discretion is advised.

Being With Elephants
Directed by James Martin
12 minutes • USA
Documentary short
Throughout the Siana region of the Maasai Mara, rangers must monitor the shrinking elephant corridors in order to prevent future collisions of man and beast. Viewer discretion is advised.
Filmmakers
AO
CF
CJ
avatar for Hunter Nichols

Hunter Nichols

Director of Photography, Hunter Nichols Productions
I’m a freelance cinematographer and filmmaker with offices in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Birmingham, Alabama. I have a passion for producing environmental and nature focused documentaries. When I’m not working you can find me canoeing down a river or hiking up a trail.
avatar for James Martin

James Martin

filmmaker & designer
James Martin is a documentary filmmaker and co-founder of Four x Productions living in Atlanta, Georgia. Combining his love for well-made cocktails and filmmaking, his directorial debut The New Orleans Sazerac is an award-winning short documentary about the history of the famous Southern... Read More →
KT

Katie Tindol

Producer, SOILED
avatar for Leah Shore

Leah Shore

Director, Leah Shore is AWESOME
Leah Shore’s films have been featured at over 100 festivals worldwide. She was named among Filmmaker Magazine's elite “25 New Faces of Independent Film 2013”, “Top 10 Animators You Should Know”, and included on several other best of lists. She directs, animates, writes commercially... Read More →
avatar for Magdalene Kennedy

Magdalene Kennedy

Magdalene Kennedy is a writer and director from Nashville, and a recent graduate of the University of Alabama.
MC
avatar for Stacey Stone

Stacey Stone

Director, Pace Films
Stacey's background comes from documenting social justice work around the world. She has filmed and photographed in India, Africa, Peru, UK, and Guatemala for NGO's, The Documentary Channel, BBC, and National Geographic. She received the acclaimed "Humanitarian Award" for her documentary... Read More →

Sunday August 25, 2019 6:55pm - 8:49pm CDT
ASFA Black Box Theatre
  Shorts Block, Documentary

7:00pm CDT

Pahokee sponsored by Indian Springs School
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This coming-of-age documentary offers a rare look at rural minority life in America. “Pahokee” is the story of four high school seniors from a small economically distressed agricultural town in southern Florida. The cinema verité film follows the teenagers through the ups and downs of their senior year, juxtaposing their hopes for the future with the realities of the present. As the drama of the football season unfolds, you will find yourself rooting for these young people and their hometown. — Heather Daniels-Whitson
Filmmakers
IL
PB


Sunday August 25, 2019 7:00pm - 8:50pm CDT
First Church of Birmingham
  Feature, Documentary

7:10pm CDT

The Mountain
After the death of his father, a sexually confused young man (Tye Sheridan) takes a job as assistant to a doctor (Jeff Goldblum) peddling a controversial and out-of-date lobotomy procedure to asylums. As the two make their way across a colorless landscape, the film radically dismantles 1950s American nostalgia and any notion of the “good old days.” Did I mention this was bleak? That’s even before Denis Lavant shows up in a performance of genuine, unhinged madness. — Corey Craft
Filmmakers
RA


Sunday August 25, 2019 7:10pm - 8:56pm CDT
Birmingham Museum of Art
  Feature, Narrative

7:15pm CDT

SHOUT Shorts 2
Curtains
Musical theater hot-shot Kyle's (Ryan Cramer) seniority is challenged when a new student Gio (Gio Cerisier) joins the theater department at his high school.
Run Time: 10.5 min

Verification
When setting up her new phone, Jillian realizes how connected she still is to her ex.
Run Time: 3min

Heads Up
When another random hookup leaves Ethan with more than he bargained for, he’s forced to face the unfortunate realities that come with anonymous, unprotected sex: HIV.
Run Time: 6.2 min

Mudpots
16-year-old Shelby and her best friend Jess spend one last afternoon together at the Salton Sea.
Run Time: 12.5 min

Terminally in Love
Quinn, a neurotic stoner, is struggling to get over her ex-girlfriend Allie as she slips from reality into a stream of heroic fantasies, wistful memories and cringe-worthy dreams.
Run Time: 17 min

Adeline
An elderly woman at the end of her life reminisces her years spent at a boarding school for girls.
Run Time 9.5 min

How I Came Out
A man has a unique and funny coming out story, he just doesn’t know it yet.
Run Time: 6 min

Exposed Destiny
Robert’s homophobic comments come back to haunt him.
Run Time: 9.5 min

The Snowglobe
Teenager Anna is receiving warnings of doom from her deceased mother by way of an antique snowglobe that’s been in the family for years.
Run Time: 15 min

SHOUT LGBTQ Film Festival is sponsored by AIDS Alabama.
Screenings in the ASFA Multiplex are sponsored by Alabama School of Fine Arts & Birmingham Business Journal.
Sponsors
avatar for AIDS Alabama

AIDS Alabama

AIDS Alabama
AIDS Alabama devotes its energy and resources statewide to helping people with HIV/AIDS live healthy, independent lives and works to prevent the spread of HIV.
avatar for Alabama School of Fine Arts

Alabama School of Fine Arts

Alabama School of Fine Arts
The Alabama School of Fine Arts is a partially residential public school authorized and funded by the Alabama Legislature to provide tuition-free instruction for impassioned students, grades 7-12. The school provides focused specialty instruction in Creative Writing, Dance, Mathematics... Read More →
avatar for Birmingham Business Journal

Sunday August 25, 2019 7:15pm - 8:45pm CDT
Alabama School of Fine Arts - Dorothy Jemison Day Theatre
  Shorts Block, Narrative

7:30pm CDT

Queen of Lapa
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An intimate and sincere glimpse into the trans sex worker community in Lapa, Rio de Janeiro, “Queen of Lapa” follows matriarch Luana Muniz and the sex workers that live in her hostel. A sex worker since age 11, Brazilian cult figure Muniz has been a performer, actress, activist and fighter for transgender sex professionals for most of her life. Her legacy continues through her hostel, where she supports others by providing a safe living environment and motherly advice. — Heather Daniels-Whitson
Filmmakers
TC


Sunday August 25, 2019 7:30pm - 8:43pm CDT
RMTC Cabaret Theatre
  Feature, Documentary

7:30pm CDT

Showgirls
This film is rated NC-17
Sunday August 25, 2019 7:30pm - 9:38pm CDT
Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema (A)
  Feature, Narrative

7:35pm CDT

Sea of Abundance
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SEA OF ABUNDANCE
Sea of Abundance (AL Film)
Directed by Yuri Shapochka
32 minutes • USA
A young dancer, Parker, challenges the ever present questions of existence, love, death, sexuality, nudity and nature
Filmmakers
YS

Sunday August 25, 2019 7:35pm - 8:07pm CDT
ASFA Lecture Hall
  Short, Documentary

7:40pm CDT

Kifaru
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A touching and poignant documentary about Sudan, the last male northern white rhino in the world, and his caregivers, “Kifaru” follows Sudan's last years at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. The men who care for him form bonds of love and friendship with Sudan that are moving and deeply personal, while facing the possibility of the extinction of all rhinos. Through Sudan and these men we see the power of love, community, care, friendship and education. — Hayes Killian
Filmmakers
DH


Sunday August 25, 2019 7:40pm - 9:00pm CDT
ASFA Recital Hall
  Feature, Documentary

8:00pm CDT

Midsommar: Director's Cut sponsored by Brandino Brass
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Christian is about to break up with his girlfriend, Dani, when she suffers a catastrophic family tragedy. With their relationship on the verge of collapse and Dani in a precarious emotional state, Christian half-heartedly invites her to join him and his grad student friends on a trip to observe a rural Swedish commune’s solstice rites. Soon, the villagers’ pagan celebrations take a sinister, terrifying turn. This is an extended version of this summer’s horror sensation. — Corey Craft
Filmmakers
AA


Sunday August 25, 2019 8:00pm - 10:57pm CDT
Alabama Theatre
  Feature, Narrative

9:00pm CDT

Awards Show
Join us in the beautiful Lyric Theatre for the 21st Annual Sidewalk Film Festival Awards Show where over $10,000 in cash prizes will be awarded! Awards

The following awards are presented by the competition juries of Sidewalk & SHOUT:

Jambor-Franklin Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature $1000
Best Documentary Feature $1000
Best Narrative Short $500
Best Documentary Short $500
Best Animated Short $250
Alan Hunter Best Alabama Film
Best Student Film $250
Best Family Film $250
Best SHOUT Feature $500
Best SHOUT Short $250
Best Life & Liberty Film $250
Features Programmers Award $500
Shorts Programmers Award $250
Spirit of Sidewalk Award
Best Black Lens Film $250

The following awards are presented by Bham Now and based on feedback provided by the festival audience, so be sure your voice is heard! You will be provided with a ballot before each film or film block. Complete your ballot and drop it in the ballot collection box before exiting the theatre.

Best Narrative Feature $250
sponsored by Total Skin & Beauty
Best Documentary Feature $250
Best Narrative Short $150
Best Documentary Short $150
Best Alabama Film $250
Best SHOUT Film $250
Sponsored by the LGBT Fund of Greater Birmingham



Sidewrite Best Feature Length Screenplay $500
Sidewrite Best Short Screenplay $250
Sidewrite Best Alabama Screenplay $250

Admission is FREE to this fun event.
Sunday August 25, 2019 9:00pm - 10:30pm CDT
Lyric Theatre
  Special Event
  • Run Time 90 min
 
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  • Feature
  • Panel
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  • Special Event
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  • XR
    • 3rd Ave. N. (Block Party)
    Alabama School of Fine Arts - Dorothy Jemison Day Theatre
    Alabama Theatre
    ASFA Black Box Theatre
    ASFA Dorothy Jemison Day Theater
    ASFA Gallery
    ASFA Health & Wellness Room
    ASFA Lecture Hall
    ASFA Recital Hall
    Birmingham Museum of Art
    First Church of Birmingham
    Kress Building
    Lyric Theatre
    Lyric Theatre Basement
    McWane Center Rushton Theatre
    Red Mountain Theatre Company (Cabaret Theatre)
    RMTC Cabaret Theatre
    Roots & Revelry
    Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema (A & B)
    Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema (A)
    Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema (B)
    Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark