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Sidewalk Film Festival is produced by the Alabama Moving Image Association, a federally recognized 501c3 non-profit organization with a mission to inspire, encourage and support filmgoers, the city of Birmingham and the filmmaking community. In addition to hosting the annual film festival, we host monthly networking and educational events, a monthly documentary series, short film and screenwriting competitions, manage a youth board and a variety of other year-round programs. 

Tickets sales to our events cover approximately 1/3 of our annual operating cash budget, so we depend on corporate sponsors, grant-making organizations and individuals like you to survive. if you’d like to know more about supporting Sidewalk, please contact us at sidewalk@sidewalkfest.com.

Using Sched.org as our primary scheduling tool, we are happy to offer four different ways to view this year’s lineup. By hovering your cursor over the "Schedule" tab below, you can take your pick of a Simple, Expanded, Grid, or By Venue view. 

This schedule is subject to change.
First Church Birmingham [clear filter]
Saturday, August 26
 

10:00am CDT

Documentary Shorts: Conservation sponsored by Wild & Scenic
Documentary Shorts: Conservation
100 minutes

Alabama: From the Mountains to the Coast
- Hunter Nichols
- USA
- 4.5 min
A stunning aerial journey starting in Alabama's mountains and traveling down its rivers to its coastal waters.

Birmingham to the Gulf
- Matthew Grcic
- USA
- 13 min
Imagine the vitality and biodiversity that connects Birmingham to the Gulf of Mexico.

Gardeners of the Forest
- Ceylan Carhoglu, Nicole Jordan-Webber
- USA
- 15 min
Laos was once known as the Land of a Million Elephants. Today, due to the Chinese market, deforestation, and tourism, only around 400 elephants remain.

Naturally Selected
- Jimmy Evans
- USA
- 9.5 min
- Environmentalist Sam Van Leer fights to save Miami from drowning

My Garden, No Longer
- Scott E. Schimmel
- USA
- 17.5 min
- The people of Vanuatu, a country once dubbed the happiest place on earth, face a grim future as climate change threatens their culture and traditions.

Waste Not Want Not
- Scott Schimmel
- USA
- 13 min
Take a look at the scale and scope of the international recycling industry housed in Alabama and at the roles of citizens and businesses in shifting toward more sustainable solutions to address waste.

The Underwater Forest
- Ben Raines
- USA
- 27 min
Drop below the waves and back in time to an ancient forest of prehistoric trees that date to an ice age 60,000 years ago, when sea levels were hundreds of feet lower.

Saturday, August 26th
10:00 AM
First Church Birmingham
Admission included with VIP, Weekend, and Saturday Day Passes. Premium Single Tickets also available.
Click here to buy festival passes.
Click here to buy premium single tickets for this screening.

Sponsors
avatar for Southern Exposure

Southern Exposure

Deputy Director, Alabama Rivers Alliance
SOUTHERN EXPOSURE is a film fellowship program that is actively raising awareness about Alabama’s incredible natural resources and important environmental issues that impact all of us. This innovative summer fellowship brings emerging filmmakers from across the country to tell authentic... Read More →


Saturday August 26, 2017 10:00am - 11:40am CDT
First Church Birmingham

12:25pm CDT

Life & Liberty Shorts sponsored by Vincent Cirulli Family
Life & Liberty Shorts
94 minutes

On the Backs of the People
- Jeb Brackner, Rebecca Rakowitz
- USA
- 11 min
Private probation plagues the indigent across hundreds of municipalities in a dozen states.

Lead the Parade
- Omino Gardezi
- USA
- 15 min
Explore the impact a child's early enviroment has on their social, cognitive, and emotional development.

I Am Anthony
- Tyler Rice
- USA
- 13 min
Anthony is a homeless man with deep issues, but also a profound dignity.

First to Go: Story of the Katakoa Family
- Myles Matsuno
- USA
- 20 min
Ichiro Kataoka was the first San Francisco Japanese prisoner taken by the FBI after President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066.

Voices from Kaw Thoo Lei
- Martha Gorzycki
- USA
- 11 min
The Karen People believe no one hears their pleas for help after over 60 years of war. Over 10,000 haunting photos animate a landscape that help their voices be heard.

The Gathering
- Micki Dickoff
- USA
- 24 min
“The Gathering” tells the story of Witness to Innocence, the largest organization of death row exonerees in the United States.


Saturday, August 26th
12:25 PM
First Church Birmingham
Admission included with VIP, Weekend, and Saturday Day Passes. Premium Single Tickets also available.
Click here to buy festival passes.
Click here to buy premium single tickets for this screening.


Saturday August 26, 2017 12:25pm - 1:59pm CDT
First Church Birmingham

3:00pm CDT

Who's Gonna Love Me Now?
Who's Gonna Love Me Now?
Directed by Tomer Heymann, Barak Heymann
Israel and UK, Documentary, 90 minutes

Who’s Gonna Love Me Now? is a touching documentary that provides an intimate look inside the life of a gay, HIV positive, Israeli man living in London. The film follows Saar on an emotional journey of self-acceptance as he attempts to reconcile with the Orthodox Jewish family that he left behind in Israel 18 years earlier.  Filmmakers and brothers, Barak and Tomar Heymann, provide a glimpse into the stigma surrounding HIV and what it truly means to be “family." - Bryan Hobson

Saturday, August 26th
3:00 PM
First Church Birmingham
Admission included with VIP, Weekend, and Saturday Day Passes. Premium Single Tickets also available.
Click here to buy festival passes.
Click here to buy premium single tickets for this screening.


Saturday August 26, 2017 3:00pm - 4:30pm CDT
First Church Birmingham

5:15pm CDT

Spettacolo
Spettacolo
Directed by Jeff Malmberg & Chris Shellen
USA, Documentary, 90 minutes

Each year for half a century, the citizens of the small Italian village of Monticchiello have performed a summer play based on their lives, through which residents of this farming town can examine issues of the day. But as the population grows older and their way of life fades in modern Italy’s trying economic times, this annual tradition may be coming to an end. This sun-drenched documentary takes a beautiful look at Teatro Povero’s difficulties and triumphs.
- Corey Craft

Saturday, August 26th
5:15 PM
First Church Birmingham
Admission included with VIP, Weekend, and Saturday Day Passes. Premium Single Tickets also available.
Click here to buy festival passes.
Click here to buy premium single tickets for this screening.


Saturday August 26, 2017 5:15pm - 6:45pm CDT
First Church Birmingham

7:30pm CDT

Rat Film
Rat Film
Directed by Theo Anthony
USA, Documentary, 82 minutes

In his debut documentary, Rat Film, Baltimore native Theo Anthony use his hometown’s most pervasive pest, the Norway rat, to demonstrate the impact of zoning laws on the city’s wealth distribution. On the map and in the gutter. Told through Anthony’s natural process of discovery, this fascinating film unfolds organically, presenting many different sides to the story. A dizzying edit and squirming subject matter contrast with the droll, computer-modulated narration. Warning: Graphic imagery of rat deaths.

Saturday, August 26th
7:30 PM
First Church Birmingham
Admission included with VIP, Weekend, and Saturday Day Passes. Premium Single Tickets also available.
Click here to buy festival passes.
Click here to buy premium single tickets for this screening.


Saturday August 26, 2017 7:30pm - 8:52pm CDT
First Church Birmingham
 
Sunday, August 27
 

2:00pm CDT

Jungletown Talkback with Ondi Timoner
Jungletown Talkback with Ondi Timoner
Directed by Ondi Timoner
USA, Episodic Documentary, 90 minutes

Join documentary filmmaker Ondi Timoner (the only two-time recipient of Sundance’s documentary Grand Jury Prize) in a conversation about her latest work, the episodic Jungletown. The Viceland program focuses on an American entrepreneur who has carved out a “sustainable modern town" in the Panamanian jungle – and had dozens of young people (many “interns”) join him. Timoner will play selections from the show, discuss its production and reception and take questions. She might even say a few words regarding her current project, the feature Mapplethorpe.- Rachel Morgan

Sunday, August 27th
2:00 PM
First Church Birmingham
Admission included with VIP, Weekend, and Sunday Day Passes. Premium Single Tickets also available.
Click here to buy festival passes.
Click here to buy premium single tickets for this screening.


Sunday August 27, 2017 2:00pm - 3:30pm CDT
First Church Birmingham

4:15pm CDT

The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson
The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson
Directed by David France
USA, Documentary, 105 minutes

Marsha P. Johnson was a leading transgender activist in the 1980s: present at the Stonewall Riots alongside Sylvia Rivera. Her death rocked the New York LGBT activist scene, with many of her peers skeptical of the NYPD’s ruling that she committed suicide. In this gripping documentary, we follow activist Victoria Cruz as she tries to solve the mystery of Marcia’s death. David France, the director of How to Survive a Plague, brings us this riveting film that’s part tribute, part whodunit, and part call-to-action.
- Kate Michel

Sunday, August 27th
4:15 PM
First Church Birmingham
Admission included with VIP, Weekend, and Sunday Day Passes. Premium Single Tickets also available.
Click here to buy festival passes.
Click here to buy premium single tickets for this screening.


Sunday August 27, 2017 4:15pm - 6:00pm CDT
First Church Birmingham

6:45pm CDT

The New Radical
The New Radical
Directed by Adam Bhala Lough
USA, Documentary, 120 minutes

Profiling millennial radicals who are changing the world at an unprecedented pace, The New Radical draws its audience into the paranoid, angry universe of political dissidents, most of whom are white, male, and staunchly libertarian. The documentary provides impressive access to the inventors of Bitcoin and the 3D-printed gun, as well as famous hackers and prominent government leakers. Is this cohort of angry young men made up of defenders of freedom, or do they just want to see the world destroyed in new and interesting ways?
- Rachel Ahrnsen

Sunday, August 27th
6:45 PM
First Church Birmingham
Admission included with VIP, Weekend, and Sunday Day Passes. Premium Single Tickets also available.
Click here to buy festival passes.
Click here to buy premium single tickets for this screening.



Sunday August 27, 2017 6:45pm - 7:45pm CDT
First Church Birmingham
 
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