Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival
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2011 coverage
The 13th annual Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival takes place Aug. 26-28 in downtown Birmingham.
Also, the sixth annual Birmingham Shout gay/lesbian film festival runs concurrently with Sidewalk.
Features
- July 5 | Your first in-depth look at Birmingham’s film festival
The event moves up 1 month and adds an outdoor venue for starters.
2010 coverage
Adrian Grenier’s “Teenage Paparazzo” opened
the 2010 Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival.
Features
- March 2 | The reshuffling of Sidewalk
Exclusive: Birmingham Shout gay/lesbian film festival moves to fall; new hires in the works. - Aug. 21 | First look at the lineup
Check out the films with a local connection, including trailers. - Aug. 24 | Shout 2010 — the lineup
Gay film festival has new venue, new season and new lineup. - Aug. 26 | Sidewalk 2010 to open with Adrian Grenier’s ‘Teenage Paparazzo’
Festival completes lineup with closing night film and other spotlight films. - Sept. 21 | The Sidetalk panel you don’t want to miss
Free: Panel to focus on “Media Criticism: Is It Dead?” - Nov. 29 | Sidewalk Film Festival moves to August for 2011
2010 festival and fund-raisers help group break even for the year.
Reviews for Sidewalk
- Sept. 7 | “American Jihadist”
Kenn McCracken: The must-see documentary of Sidewalk 2010. - Sept. 9 | “Dogtooth” (“Kynodontas”)
Jennifer West: A Greek film explores the twisted world of children trapped at home for decades. - Sept. 10 | “Phillip the Fossil”
Kenn McCracken: A well-worn tale of a slacker’s attempt to, you know, like grow up and stuff. - Sept. 13 | “Until the Light Takes Us”
Kenn McCracken: Doc shines the spotlight on a dark corner of music history, Norwegian black metal. - Sept. 14 | “Ready, Set, Bag!”
Jennifer West: Winning doc shows the speedy agility of champion baggers, while moving at an unnecessarily slower pace. - Sept. 15 | “Pelada”
Kenn McCracken: Soccer documentary focuses on pickup games around the world, but needs more local flavor at each stop. - Sept. 16 | “Hey Boo: Harper Lee and ‘To Kill a Mockingbird'”
Jennifer West: Documentary goes beyond the famed novel into the soul of its mysterious Alabama author. - Sept. 20 | “Gabi on the Roof in July”
Jennifer West: Artists struggling to make it in New York grow tiresome quickly with their self-involved ways. - Sept. 21 | “Not My Son”
Kenn McCracken: Documentary shows Birmingham mothers determined to move beyond tragedy. - Sept. 22 | “Teenage Paparazzo”
Jennifer West: Opening night documentary shows fame has a dark side, even for a 14-year-old celebrity photographer.
Reviews for Shout
- Sept. 8 | “An Ordinary Couple”
Chance Shirley: A Birmingham man and a New York man celebrate their 30-year relationship with … a “funeral.” - Sept. 17 | “A Marine Story”
Chance Shirley: This homecoming tale stumbles in tackling too many issues with a broken screenplay. - Sept. 23 | Reviews of “Howl”
A roundup of critics’ columns for the Sundance opening film. - Sept. 23 | “Howl”
Chance Shirley: Biopic ably gives life to poet Allen Ginsberg and his epic work through strong acting and fluid editing. - Sept. 24 | “The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls”
Chance Shirley: This documentary introduces New Zealand’s established folk music humorous activist duo.
2009 Coverage
Alabama Moon, starring John Goodman, was the closing
film for the 2009 Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival.
Features
- Aug. 27 | Local flavor
A first look at the schedule, focusing on films with Alabama connections - Aug. 28 | ‘Best Worst Movie’ to open festival
Documentary on making of “Troll 2” kicks off 2009 edition - Sept. 21 | Get your ass to Mars
10 reasons to the see the North American premiere of sci-fi/horror/comedy film “Interplanetary” - Sept. 25 | The everything-must-go end-of-September blowout
A guide to the festival, plus additional coverage - Nov. 6 | September success brings $20,000 surplus
The exclusive story of how the festival overcame debt and broke in a new executive director
Reviews
- Sept. 18 | “Forgetting Dad”
A father suffers severe amnesia and reboots his life with a new family in this documentary on the mind and memory. - Sept. 19 | “Courting Condi”
A lovestruck suitor chases the woman of his dreams, Birmingham native and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice! - Sept. 20 | “The Dungeon Masters”
A straight-up documentary about the lives of three participants in role-playing games and an up-close look at their hobby. - Sept. 21 | “The Vicious Kind”
Two brothers, one girl. A familiar tale wrapped in indie style. - Sept. 22 | “They Came to Play”
A film about Van Cliburn competitors (including Birmingham’s Drew Mays), and one of the best, most inspiring and uplifting documentaries in Sidewalk history. - Sept. 22 | “45365”
A documentary shows small town Ohio life, warts and all, in entertaining and provocative fashion. - Sept. 23 | “Official Rejection”
A documentary about the funny meta-tale of getting a movie into a festival. - Sept. 23 | “Dead Snow” (“Død snø”)
A Nazi zombie flick from Norway that delivers on the right mix of laughs and scares in a frozen horror show. - Sept. 24 | “You Might as Well Live”
The quirky comedy about a suicidal nobody out to prove he’s somebody is one of the best in Sidewalk’s lineup this year. - Sept. 24 | “That Evening Sun”
A slow-paced but remarkable film that portrays a love story in the guise of an old farmer’s battle for his house. - Sept. 25 | “Best Worst Movie”
A documentary that provides a good look at how an unintentionally bad movie gets made.
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2008 Coverage
Sidewalk 2008 opened with the
rock comedy, ‘Adventures of Power.’
Features
- Sept. 9 | ‘Adventures of Power’ to open Sidewalk 2008
Exclusive: Film fest kickoff stars Adrian Grenier, Michael McKean
Reviews
- Sept. 18 | “Goliath”
An unnamed man deals with personal setbacks and a missing cat. - Sept. 22 | “‘Bama Girl”
A documentary on a black finalist for Homecoming Queen at the University of Alabama. - Sept. 24 | “Crawford”
A documentary on President Bush’s adopted hometown in Texas. - Sept. 25 | “The Dhamma Brothers”
A documentary on a west Jefferson County prison taking on Buddhist meditation. - Sept. 26 | “Adventures of Power”
Mine worker, air drummer, dreamer. Can Power fulfill his musical destiny and save his town?
Aftermath
- EXCLUSIVE: Sidewalk loses second director in two years
Catherine Pfitzer fired after board goes in new direction (Feb. 14, 2009)
- EXCLUSIVE: Sidewalk starts again
Film festival pursues new executive director, hires development director (March 3, 2009) - EXCLUSIVE: Sidewalk hires Chloe Collins as Executive Director
Third director in film festival’s 10-year history (April 22, 2009) - Teaser: A vision for the Sidewalk film festival
Chloe Collins shares her goal for the festival’s future in a video preview (April 23, 2009) - EXCLUSIVE: Executive director Chloe Collins discusses Sidewalk films, finances
In this exclusive interview, the new head of Sidewalk lays out her ideas for improving the festival (April 27, 2009) - Sidewalk, post-Shout, pre-festival
Updates on the July Scramble, and venues and sponsors for the annual September festival (June 2, 2009) - Sidewalk: Shout figures, fund-raisers, schedule update
Updates on Birmingham Shout, November Scramble and fund-raisers and schedule for the annual September festival (Aug. 20, 2009)
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2007 Coverage
Reviews
- Sept. 20 | “The Ten”
The Commandments get a comedic take from The State; holy hilarity ensues. - Sept. 24 | Alabama Shorts Block No. 4
Homegrown short films with a darker side. - Sept. 25 | “Overflow”
Birmingham filmmaker focuses on teenage misfits in detention. - Sept. 27 | “Row Hard No Excuses”
A look at rowers who race across the ocean in this gripping doc.
Extras
- Sept. 10 | Look ahead
A sneak peek at this year’s lineup - Sept. 28 | The last roundup
Prizes! “Lunch” first look! Bitter media rivalries! And more! - Oct. 1 | End scene
Recaps of hits and misses from the weekend
• • •
2006 Coverage
Reviews
- Sept. 17 | “Puzzlehead”
Love triangle with scientist, robot and (gasp!) woman lacks humanity - Sept. 18 | Shorts Block No. 3
Quirky appealing block features international flavor around a theme of responsibility - Sept. 19 | “Darkon”
Documentary takes all-too-serious look at role-playing knights - Sept. 21 | “LOL”
Lackluster comedy follows wired slackers nowhere
Extras
- Sept. 19 | “Muckfuppet”
A Birmingham filmmaker’s script comes full circle - Sept. 22 | Off and running
10 reasons to hit this year’s festival - Sept. 27 | fin
A recap of more films at the festival
Aftermath
- Nov. 30 | Sidewalk shuffle
Festival director Erik Jambor resigns - Dec. 5 | Sidewalk shuffle 2
Board president Alan Hunter discusses changes behind the scenes - Feb. 9, 2007 | Sidewalk shuffle 3
Staff changes at Sidewalk; Jambor heads to Oregon
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