Sidewalk Film Festival is back for its 25th year! The now globally famous festival still keeps its home state in the main focus with each rendition, and this year is no exception. Alabama directors are given spotlights they are very worthy of while Alabama stories find broader audiences through exceptional storytelling. Here are a few films we’d recommend checking out.
Ashley M. Jones: Trust the Voice Within (7pm on Thursday at Woodlawn United)
Birmingham-based director Anissa Latham is no stranger to Sidewalk Film Festival and highlighting powerful voices. She returns with another important work with “Ashley M. Jones: Trust the Voice Within” short, which highlights Alabama’s historical poet laureate. It is part of the festival’s Black Lens series. The film follows “Alabama's first Black (and youngest!) Poet Laureate, Ashley M. Jones” as she “promotes poetry and creates opportunities for people to engage with poetry. Here, she talks about how Alabama shapes her work and adds to her authentic voice.”
Thornton Dial (10am on Friday at the Birmingham Museum of Art)
Thornton Dial has unfortunately passed away, but the endearing artist’s work continues to grow more recognized on a large scale in his home state. This includes having his art displayed at this year’s Sidewalk Festival. Directed by Lisa Cordes, “Monograph's special broadcast documentary paying tribute to one of Alabama’s most prolific vernacular artists, the late Thornton Dial. Join Jackie Clay as she spends time with Thornton Dial’s family and speaks with Dial’s friend, fellow artist Lonnie Holley. Together they discuss Thornton Dial’s life, his art, and his legacy. Though Dial’s work has showcased in solo exhibits across the nation, Monograph is thrilled to cover Dial’s premiere large-scale solo exhibit in his home state at UAB’s Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts. Come join us in celebration of one of the most creative minds to emerge from Alabama.”
Alabama Documentary Shorts (10:10am on Saturday at the BJCC Theatre)
If you’re looking to support Alabama filmmakers and/or the coverage of Alabamian events - the Alabama Documentary Shorts segment is for you. In under two hours, a series of shows highlight the many different aspects of life in the Yellowhammer State. You can learn about the process of developing and testing F1 race cars in “Driven By Design: Inside Crimson”. You can learn about the woman from Sylacauga’s unique collision with a space rock in “Ann Hodges and The Alabama Meteorite”. Next you can learn about Tuskegee’s now-gone community hospital and its lasting impact in “Remembering John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital”. Previously mentioned director Anissa Latham returns to tell the story of one Alabama family’s lineage over the years with “Pete Datcher: Keeping The Past Present”. “The Volunteer” is a reunion tale that spans 50 years while taking a deeper look at the American identity. “Warrior Retreat” closes things out by taking a closer look at the impact still felt by former combat veterans from Alabama. There’s no better way to learn more about the vast populations that call our state home.
Restoration: The Life and Stories of the Lyric Theatre (10:15am on Saturday at the Lyric Theatre)
Birmingham is blessed to be in the middle of a beautiful historical building restoration renaissance, with the Theatre District leading the way. The Alabama Theatre, Carver Theatre, and Lyric Theatre are all shining brighter than ever while retaining their beautiful visual aesthetics of the past. While many of us know these buildings are historical, we don’t know many details about these buildings. Saturday at The Lyric presents a very cool opportunity to learn about the theatre you are watching a film in. Norton Dill’s film details how “in the early 1900s an exquisite theater is thriving as part of America's foremost vaudeville circuit. When a single event sparks the demise of vaudeville, the theater disappears for 40 years, only to be revived 100 years after its opening.”
Jasper Mall (3:20pm on Saturday at The BJCC Forum Theatre)
The dying mall isn’t a rarity that is only occurring in one part of the United States of America. In fact, hundreds of malls have slowly faded into nothingness of the last decade+. There are Subreddits dedicated to dying malls at this point. But each decay is very personal and captivating for those who grew up around the area. Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb give the nation a look at one mall’s story as they “examine the economic hardships of a once-thriving mall in Jasper, Ala.”
Shuttlesworth (2:45pm on Sunday at ASFA Dorothy Jemison Day Theater)
The country and the world are well aware of the racist plagues that Birmingham has suffered throughout our city’s history. It’s important that the world is just as aware of the resilient masses that rose up in opposition to these atrocities. There is no Birmingham today - no USA today - without the work of Revered Fred Shuttlesworth, and this documentary is important in showing the impact he had. This film tells the story of how Shuttlesworth “was raised in the crucible of segregated Birmingham but he was forged by its attempt to kill him. When the KKK planted a bomb underneath his bed and he emerged unharmed, he was sure he was saved by God to lead a Movement. His work not only ended legal segregation but led directly to the Civil and Voting Rights Acts - and inspired freedom movements around the world.”
Cover image from Sidewalk Film
