Sidewalk Film Festival: A mixtape for the city of Birmingham

Story courtesy artsBHAM

The Sidewalk Film Festival will take over Birmingham’s Theatre District on Aug. 26-28 with a program of films, new venues and content formats and street parties. Creative Director Rachel Morgan, who is celebrating her 10th year with Sidewalk, talked with artsBHAM as she finalizes the film lineup.

Morgan said she and her programming team are working hard to plan something for everyone at Sidewalk, whether you are a film buff or not. 

 “A lot of people want to watch films one after the other, and they look at it like a sporting event [thinking], ‘How many films can I fit in?’ Other people want to watch a film and then take a break,” Morgan said. “We also recognize that some of the films can be pretty intense. It can be hard to go from a melodrama or a really intense documentary [straight into] a romantic comedy or slapstick; it can be good to take a break.”

Besides the films, Sidewalk also offers a festival atmosphere in the streets, with live bands, activities and food. In fact, Morgan said, Sidewalk will increase the number of food trucks, pop-up stops and activities throughout the Theatre District, “so when you are walking between venues it doesn’t feel like you are leaving the festival. It will all feel like Sidewalk.”

What to watch for:

Though the final program and schedule of films are still in the works, Morgan said indie film trends will highlight this year’s lineup.

“There’s a lot of stuff that’s more experimental than usual,” she said. “There’s a lot of stuff that’s really dark, really funny but really dark funny. I guess that makes sense when you think about how crazy the world is right now.” 

Morgan said there also are more hybrid documentary-narrative works.

“There’s a lot of stuff about acting and the filmmaking process right now,” she said. “Is it a doc or is it a narrative? That’s been interesting to me, and would be interesting for filmmakers, but that’s not always what’s going to be interesting to the general public.”

Films announced thus far include:

• “The Master Cleanse:” A dark comedy featuring Johnny Galecki playing a man who embarks on a spiritual journey while on a juice cleanse and releases more than just toxins.
• “Little Men:” A drama featuring Greg Kinnear that tells the story of 13-year-old Jake, whose family moves back to Brooklyn after his grandfather’s death. Gentrification, the easily made friendships of youth and grown-up conflicts are seen through Jake’s eyes.
• “Holy Hell:” A Will Allen documentary providing an inside look at a West Hollywood cult formed by a charismatic teacher in the ’80s.

Virtual reality

In addition to new venues, Sidewalk also is embracing new content formats that are emerging in the film industry. Morgan and her team of screeners regularly attend film festivals in other cities to see what new modes of storytelling are being created, and then they try to bring those to Birmingham.

“The programming spectrum has grown and, I think, will continue to,” she said. 

Last year, for example, Sidewalk added categories for episodic content and music videos. There are no new categories this year, but Morgan said she is working to add some virtual reality opportunities to the festival. 

“We are just putting our toe in the VR world this year, but next year we may do an open call for entries for VR projects,” she said. 

 “We want to give people in Birmingham an opportunity to experience what they would have experienced had they gone to South by Southwest or Tribeca.”

New venues

Sidewalk will screen films in two new venues this year: the Lyric Theatre and First United Methodist Church downtown.

“We are doing a retrospective screening of ‘Stay Hungry’ at the Lyric Theatre, because Arnold Schwarzenegger runs down in front of the Lyric in the film. It’s also the film’s 40th anniversary this year,” Morgan said. “We are screening our Life and Liberty series, which is documentary and narrative films about human and civil rights, at First Church.” 

Each new venue gives Sidewalk another touch point on the festival path and helps create a continuous festival footprint, she said.

“Even if you don’t want to watch a film [at a particular venue], you can stop in and see the space,” Morgan said.

Fest within a fest

The SHOUT Film Festival, which runs concurrently with and alongside Sidewalk, focuses on LGBTQ films. Though it is a separate “festival within the festival,” Morgan said she and her team work hard to make sure the content featured during the SHOUT festival is just as exceptional as the work selected for Sidewalk. 

And actually, Morgan said, there is a lot of crossover between SHOUT and Sidewalk films and audiences.

“Just because a film has LGBTQ content doesn’t mean that people who don’t fit into that spectrum don’t want to see it,” she said. “Take [last year’s] film ‘Do I Sound Gay?’ — I bet if you had polled the audience, easily half the people in the audience who were loving that film were straight.”

Morgan anticipates the SHOUT program will speak to and spark conversation about current events.

“The last two years have been incredibly important for LGBT equal rights,” she said. “So you see a lot of that reflected in the films. For example, a lot of the films [submitted for SHOUT] this year are focused on transgender rights and living as a transgender person. Because of the particular environment, that topic will probably feature more prominently in the SHOUT lineup.” 

Morgan said she does not expect to see films directly focused on the recent events in Orlando during this year’s festival.

It’s too soon for that, she said.

“When these kinds of things happen in the midst of programming, it certainly switches the programming mindset,” Morgan said. “This is an important thing to talk about now, so [we might look for] films that touch on something similar, [or feature] a retrospective.”

Insider tips

Film buffs take note: Morgan said she reserves the Sunday 11 a.m. time slot for something special.

“I pick something that I absolutely love; one of my top 10 favorites of the festival, but one that is probably not for everyone. Because I want to see it in the Alabama Theatre on the beautiful, huge screen and with all that atmosphere. It can be hard to fill a 2,200-seat theater for a film that’s really unique, interesting, innovative or special in some kind of way. But the morning after the big Saturday night party is the perfect opportunity to do that,” she said. 

She wouldn’t reveal which film will take that special slot this year, but she offered this teaser.

“I think I know what that film is going to be this year, and it is pretty terrific,” Morgan said.

One other recommendation of note: Spring for the VIP pass. A VIP pass gives access to everything: the parties, the films and the VIP and filmmaker lounge. Morgan said the VIP lounge will be “extra special this year.”

Editor’s note: This article was produced in partnership with artsBHAM. To learn more about them, visit artsbham.com.