19th Annual Sidewalk Film Festival Presented by Regions

The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman's Portrait Photography
Directed by Errol Morris
USA, Documentary, 76 minutes
Saturday, August 26th
10:00 AM

Possibly one of the greatest documentary filmmakers of all time, certainly one of the greatest living, Errol Morris takes a turn from questioning investigator to gracious pal. His new film The B-Side focuses on portrait photographer, Elsa Dorfman, now in her late 70’s. Morris covers much of the typical ground–memory, loss, uncertainty, but also moves closer to sentimentality than usual. Dorfman is known for her use of a rare large-format instant Polaroid camera and her connection to Beat generation authors. She recounts, reflects, ponders and is, generally, intriguing, funny and wise. - Rachel Morgan

Lyric Theatre
Admission included with VIP, Weekend, and Saturday Day Passes. Premium Single Tickets also available.

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Alabama Bound
Directed by Lara Embry & Carolyn Sherer
USA, Documentary, 83 minutes
The courageous story of lesbian couples struggling to thrive in Alabama is poignantly portrayed in this moving documentary about the slow, but steady progress of LGBTQ rights. Directors Lara Embry and Carolyn Shere, both Alabama natives, also skillfully spotlight Representative Patricia Todd, the state’s only openly gay legislator. Todd has been on the frontlines, fighting some of the state’s heaviest battles facing LGBTQ Alabamians. Alabama Bound is one of the all-time most riveting and heartfelt documentaries regarding queer life in the South. - J Matthew Cobb

Saturday, August 26th
12:10 PM
Lyric Theatre
Admission included with VIP, Weekend, and Saturday Day Passes. Premium Single Tickets also available.

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A Life in Waves
Directed by Brett Whitcomb
USA, Documentary, 74 minutes

Who came up with Coca-Cola’s signature popping and fizzing sound? Where did the Atari game system get its futuristic music? Delve into the audio sphere of electronic music pioneer Suzanne Ciani in A Life In Waves and experience the sound of imagination. Ciani’s career has been enormously successful from pop music to advertising to collaborations with synthesizer pioneers such as Don Buchla. Abandoning tradition, Ciani has forged her own way to attempt to “do something that no one else could do." - Charlie Sanders

Saturday, August 26th
2:20 PM
Lyric Theatre
Admission included with VIP, Weekend, and Saturday Day Passes. Premium Single Tickets also available.
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Blame
Directed by Quinn Shephard
USA, Narrative, 100 minutes

Blame tells the story of a social outcast who returns to high school after a traumatic incident. Ostracized by her peers, she walks the halls a loner. Jeremy, her drama teacher, sympathizes with her and volunteers as her scene partner in The Crucible. The boundaries between teacher and student begin to dissolve, and soon the two find themselves faced with choices that can’t be reversed. Meanwhile, this strikes a nerve in a classmate, fueling a vengeful jealousy that spirals out of control—and brings about a chain of events that draws parallels to Salem. The film was both written and directed by its star, Quinn Shephard.

Saturday, August 26th
4:20 PM
Lyric Theatre
Admission included with VIP, Weekend, and Saturday Day Passes. Premium Single Tickets also available.
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In this special Saturday evening event at the beautiful newly 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.

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Most Beautiful Island
Directed by Ana Asensio
USA, Narrative, 80 minutes

Luciana lives under the radar in America as an undocumented immigrant. Struggling to support herself and barely holding it together, she becomes lured into a questionable opportunity that rings too good to be true. Told through a mix of reflectively long shots and jarring tension, Most Beautiful Island showcases two sides of freedom--the euphoria of living as you please and the unpredictable cost of choice. Quietly terrifying and at times hypnotic, Most Beautiful Island is writer/director/star Ana Asensio’s impressive directorial debut.
- Charlie Sanders & Rachel Morgan

Saturday, August 26th
9:40 PM
Lyric Theatre
Admission included with VIP, Weekend, and Saturday Day Passes. Premium Single Tickets also available.
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The Reagan Show
Directed by Pacho Velez & Sierra Pettengill
USA, Documentary, 75 minutes

Skillfully and painstakingly comprised of archival footage, The Reagan Show is an eerily relevant peak behind the curtain of the media driven presidency of America’s 40th, Ronald Reagan. The documentary quietly places a spotlight on how deeply the media savvy Reagan years informed all POTUS to-be. Captivating and at times surreal, The Reagan Show is insanely well crafted and is perhaps most impressive in its presentation of a sneakily clever commentary on the current state of the nation.
- Rachel Morgan

Sunday, August 27th
10:45 AM
Lyric Theatre
Admission included with VIP, Weekend, and Saturday Day Passes. Premium Single Tickets also available.
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Big Bear
Directed by Joey Kern
USA, Narrative, 87 minutes

Everything’s set for Joe’s bachelor party weekend, supplies have been gathered and a cabin at Big Bear Lake booked. There’s just one issue, Joe’s fiancé leaves him for another guy. His best friends force him to have the party despite the failed engagement and things quickly take a surprising turn as Joe discovers exactly what his friends have in store.Heavily influenced by Director (and Sidewalk alum) Joey Kern’s personal misfortune, Big Bear is a hilarious, fun and action-filled tale that reminds us to make the best of the worst.
- Michael Shelton

Sunday, August 27th
1:00 PM
Lyric Theatre
Admission included with VIP, Weekend, and Saturday Day Passes. Premium Single Tickets also available.
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Lucky
Directed by John Carroll Lynch
USA, Narrative, 88 minutes

Acting legend Harry Dean Stanton stars as the cantankerous Lucky, an elderly atheist faced with his imminent mortality after a momentary health scare. As he interacts with the other residents of his small desert community, Lucky moves slowly but surely toward enlightenment. The directing debut of character actor John Carroll Lynch, Lucky gives Stanton the role of a lifetime. Co-starring Tom Skerritt, Ron Livingston and director David Lynch as Lucky’s tortoise-obsessed best friend.
- Corey Craft

Sunday, August 27th
3:15 PM
Lyric Theatre
Admission included with VIP, Weekend, and Saturday Day Passes. Premium Single Tickets also available.
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My Friend Dahmer
Directed by Marc Meyers
USA, Narrative, 110 minutes
Closing Night Film

In case you haven’t heard, in 1991 Milwaukee resident and chocolate factory employee Jeffery Dahmer confessed to the murder of 17 young men. Included in his confession was an admission to the dismemberment and cannibalism of a number of his victims. My Friend Dahmer doesn’t tell that story, but, instead, covers the years of Dahmer’s life just before he began his killing spree; the era when his only victims were an occasional squirrel, his binge drinking habits began to emerge and his thoughts were beginning to take a turn towards murder.

Moving out of the role of young handsome Disney star and into that of young handsome serial killer, Ross Lynch is strangely convincing as the awkward, eccentric and attention-hungry high school Jeffrey Dahmer. Based on the Angoulême Prize winning and bestselling graphic novel of the same name, the film’s narrative is rooted in the personal experiences of the graphic novel’s author and Dahmer's high school bestie, Derf Backderf, who befriended Dahmer upon witnessing what he thought was the comedic outbreak of a class clown. My Friend Dahmer is not only engrossing and provocative, but is also an eerie, visually captivating time capsule.

- Rachel Morgan

Sunday, August 27th
5:30 PM
Lyric Theatre
Admission included with VIP, Weekend, and Sunday Day Passes. Premium Single Tickets also available.
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Our festival awards ceremony - all are welcome!

The Best SHOUT Film, Jury is sponsored by the LGBTQ Fund.

The Kathryn Tucker Windham Award for Southern Storytelling is sponsored by the Family of Kathryn Tucker Windham.

The Best Documentary Short is sponsored by Baker Donelson.

The Best Life & Liberty Film is sponsored by Jones & Hawley Law.

The Best Student Film Award is sponsored by Media and Film Studies at Birmingham-Southern College 

Doors open at 9, show at 9:30.