Movie review: ‘45365’

sidewalk.wadeonbirmingham.com
By Jennifer West

Review at a glance: The documentary “45365” shows small town Ohio life, warts and all, in entertaining and provocative fashion.

A scene from the documentary, “45365.”

Sidney, Ohio, gives us a fascinating glimpse into rural American life. Can’t visit? Try “45365,” a documentary that on first glance doesn’t seem to have much of a plot. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

The film screens Saturday at the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival.

The focus is on several people and storylines in Sidney. Like most small towns, it boasts a wide array of interesting characters all living within one community. Smoky bars, high school football, police officers, trailer parks, teenage drama, county fair … it’s all there in director Bill Ross’ vision.

True to life, “45365” doesn’t sugarcoat anything. This must-see documentary is raw, sometimes hard to swallow, real small town USA living. But it’s guaranteed to make you laugh, and think.

Jennifer West (@juniperlou) won the Sidewalk Audience Choice award for her romantic comedy “Piece of Cake” in 2006, which she wrote and directed. She’s working on a feature-length screenplay and blogging about it on JuniperLou.

“45365” will screen at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Carver Theatre.

Video: Trailer for “45365”

Video: Bickering in the car.

Also:

• Official site
• Sidewalk summary
• Reviews from All These Wonderful Things | The Documentary Blog | Flavorwire | GreenCine Daily | Hammer to Nail | Paste Magazine | Variety

• • •

Action! Complete Sidewalk Festival coverage.

Movie review: ‘They Came to Play’

sidewalk.wadeonbirmingham.com
By Kenn McCracken

Review at a glance: One of the most inspiring documentaries in Sidewalk history, “They Came to Play” puts on a virtuoso show of amateur pianists battling and bewitching at the Van Cliburn competition.

Birmingham ophthalmologist Drew Mays practices his
piano pieces at home in a scene from “They Came to Play.”

Not every gifted player makes more than a hobby of their playing.

You meet such amateur artists in “They Came to Play,” a documentary about participants in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. An inspirational film that showcases amazing talent and a variety of characters, it does an excellent job of showing that not every classical pianist is the same.

The movie screens Sunday at the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival.

What makes this so spectacular is director Alex Rotaru’s framing of the competition and construction of the narrative. Ninety minutes pass quickly, and the competitors he focuses on are introduced in a natural progression. Among them is Drew Mays, an ophthalmologist at Birmingham’s Veterans Administration Medical Center and the director of the UAB School of Medicine residency program.

The film shows more than just the performance and practice sides of its subjects, but never strays so far that you feel it has lost focus. The competitors are so varied — in age, playing background, professional lives and especially personalities — that it’s hard even as a music fan to decide which is more entertaining, the pieces or the people.

The components are equally strong: gorgeous cinematography, seamless editing, and an absolutely astonishing sound mix, perhaps the most important part of a music documentary. The pianos, whether onstage or at home, sound clear and enveloping.

As a musician and a sometime filmmaker, I find “They Came to Play” is a documentary I’ve been waiting to see without realizing it. While many music documentaries focus on one band or genre, this one is about music, performance and the passion that runs underneath it all.

Musicians, fans and arts patrons would be remiss in not seeing one of the best, most inspiring and uplifting documentaries in the 11-year history of Sidewalk.

Kenn McCracken (@insomniactive) is a director and an award-winning screenwriter (2005 Sidewalk Sidewrite grand prize, “Muckfuppet”).

He’s also a writer (Birmingham Weekly, Spin.com, mental_floss), a bassist for the Exhibit(s), an eight-time cat juggling champion for Malta and an ongoing experiment in sleep deprivation. He occasionally steals your best ideas to claim at his blog, Dairy of a Madman.

“They Came to Play” will screen at 6:45 p.m. Sunday at the Birmingham Museum of Art.

Video: Defining “amateur” vs. “professional”

Also:

• Official site
• Sidewalk summary
• Features from Birmingham News | UAB Reporter

• • •

Action! Complete Sidewalk Festival coverage.

‘Interplanetary’ making North American debut Sunday

sidewalk.wadeonbirmingham.com

Ten reasons to see “Interplanetary” at the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival on Sunday …

10. “‘Interplanetary’ is what all B-movies should want to be: audacious, intelligent and start-to-finish entertaining, a slice of genius standing in bold defiance of the budget.” So says reviewer David Cornelius of efilmcritic.com.

9. Someone you know is probably in it. The credited cast:

Cary Borders, Alison Britt, David Brown, James H. Brown, Melissa Bush, Damon Carter, Nick Crawford, Willie DeVold, Jacquese Evans, David Forbes, Mia Frost, Jen Graham, Sanford Hardy, Chris Hartsell, Chuck Hartsell, Joshua Hester, Kyle Holman, Tim Houchens, Erik Jambor, Sylvester Little Jr., Lisa Mason, Eric McGinty, Kyle McKinnon, Gabrielle Metz, Amanda Myers, Jonathan Norris, Shelley Phelps, Rod Robinson, Scott Ross, William Michael Schuelly, Michael Shelton, Shane Traffanstedt, Taylor Traffanstedt and Kevin S. Van Hyning.

Mostly Birmingham actors, plus the obligatory Wade cameo …

[Full disclosure: Crewless Productions, maker of “Interplanetary,” is my client.]

8. It’s about a base on Mars under attack from a mysterious slasher. But what will kill our beloved office drones first: serial killer or paperwork? Director Chance Shirley (“Hide and Creep”) will help sort it out on Fox 6’s noon news Tuesday, so tune your Earth-based receivers to that station.

7. “Interplanetary” won the Audience Choice award at the WT International Film Festival in Norway. Norway! If there’s one thing the Norwegians know, it’s cinema, specifically sci-fi-horror-comedy.

6. Director Andrew Bellware calls it “beyond brilliant. … Yeah, it was like a religious experience. Yeah.”

5. Someone you know probably worked on it. The credited crew:

Steve Ashlee, Peyton Fanning, Sam Frazier Jr., Sanford Hardy, Chuck Hartsell, Chris Hilleke, Kyle Holman, Alex Justinger, Kenn McCracken, Eric McGinty, Jim Roberson, Carl Ross, Stacey Sessions, Linda Shirley, George Smyly, Arik Sokol, Ted Speaker, Jonathan Thornton, Ramona Thornton, Shane Traffanstedt, Joseph Walker and John White.

4. This snazzy trailer …

Look at that trailer again. Can you believe this movie was shot in Birmingham? That’s right, Birmingham. (Well, OK, except the desert part. That was shot on Mars.)

3. It wants you as a Facebook fan. Just you. (And be sure to RSVP for Sunday’s screening on Facebook and Sidewalk.)

2. It also has a blog, Everybody on Mars Is Dead, a great detailed look by Chance at the making of “Interplanetary” over the last 2 years.

1. “The movie has the right blend of sex, blood, greed and aliens to make for a classic. Watch out for this one.” So says Melanie Addington of Oxford Film Freak.

“Interplanetary” will screen at 4:15 p.m. Sunday at the Carver Theatre.

Also:

• Official site
• Sidewalk summary
• Fangoria shout out

• • •

Action! Complete Sidewalk Festival coverage.

Movie review: ‘The Vicious Kind’

sidewalk.wadeonbirmingham.com
By Jennifer West

Review at a glance: “The Vicious Kind” serves up a standard indie love triangle, but what a soundtrack.

Brittany Snow stars in “The Vicious Kind.”

Are you in need of a real indie film fix? “The Vicious Kind” will almost satisfy, filled with sweet and somber moments, strange people and awkward situations.

The film screens Sunday at the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival.

Familiar faces abound onscreen, including stars Adam Scott (“Party Down”), Brittany Snow (“Hairspray”), Alex Frost and J.K. Simmons (“The Closer”).

After a terrible breakup, Caleb Sinclaire (Scott) falls for his younger brother’s emotionally mature girlfriend. “The Vicious Kind” follows them plus Caleb’s father through the twists and turns of strange normalcy.

The story is predictable, the characters a little contrived. But director Lee Toland Krieger still creates an emotionally rewarding film with an amazing soundtrack and great performance. It probably won’t be your favorite film at the festival, but one still worth seeing.

Jennifer West (@juniperlou) won the Sidewalk Audience Choice award for her romantic comedy “Piece of Cake” in 2006, which she wrote and directed. She’s working on a feature-length screenplay and blogging about it on JuniperLou.

“The Vicious Kind” will screen at 4 p.m. Sunday at the Alabama Theatre.

Video: Caleb and Emma’s argument ends with a surprise.

Also:

• Sidewalk summary
• Reviews from EI Insiders | New York Magazine | Variety

• • •

Action! Complete Sidewalk Festival coverage.

Movie review: ‘The Dungeon Masters’

sidewalk.wadeonbirmingham.com
By Kenn McCracken

Review at a glance: “The Dungeon Masters” has no agenda as a documentary, other than to show three role-playing gamers and their hobby up close.

A scene from “The Dungeon Masters.”

When I watched “The Dungeon Masters,” I wondered if it would present a fair portrayal of people commonly regarded as socially inept geeks. The documentary follows three participants in role-playing games, especially Dungeons and Dragons (the title refers to the person who organizes and runs the games).

The film screens Saturday at the  Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival.

I was pleasantly surprised. While most documentaries that receive attention seem to have an overt message, “The Dungeon Masters” does a commendable job in presenting a likely prejudged topic in a very “without-comment” manner.

The film, directed by Keven McAlester, was too long by 30 minutes, delving into areas that seem completely tangential to the focus. While the storyline follows the three subjects, too many scenes come across as either minutiae or unrelated to their hobby.

As a people watcher and a (cough) former D&D player in elementary school, I would’ve also liked to know more about why they became interested in gaming, how it influences their everyday lives, what they think about being stereotyped. The three touch upon these points briefly, but I wanted more substance.

The film is beautifully shot, as cinematographer Lee Daniel seems to have a natural for presenting a mostly unbiased view while still delivering some extraordinary scenes.

Make no mistake: “The Dungeon Masters” is not going to change your mind. If you’re a gamer, you’ll recognize your friends or yourself.

If you’re the guy who beat up my high school friends, you’ll still be a small-minded jock destined to die alone and miserable, secretly wishing you’d had a good hobby, too. (Kidding. Mostly. Sort of. OK, not really.)

The film will, however, demonstrate a well-made and well-considered documentary.

Kenn McCracken (@insomniactive) is a director and an award-winning screenwriter (2005 Sidewalk Sidewrite grand prize, “Muckfuppet”).

He’s also a writer (Birmingham Weekly, Spin.com, mental_floss), a bassist for the Exhibit(s), an eight-time cat juggling champion for Malta and an ongoing experiment in sleep deprivation. He occasionally steals your best ideas to claim at his blog, Dairy of a Madman.

“The Dungeon Masters” will screen at 6:15 p.m. Saturday at Alabama Power.

Video: Interview with “The Dungeon Masters”
director, Keven McAlester

Also:

• Official site
• Sidewalk summary
• Reviews from Austin Chronicle | Games Information Blog | The Independent Critic | Movie Moxie | SpoutBlog

• • •

Action! Complete Sidewalk Festival coverage.

Movie review: ‘Courting Condi’

sidewalk.wadeonbirmingham.com
By Jennifer West

Review at a glance: A “love story” in the guise of a documentary, “Courting Condi” would’ve better been served by ditching the faux-mance and focusing on its true object of desire, Condoleezza Rice.

A scene from the documentary “Courting Condi.”

It’s a love story, about a simple nobody and the Secretary of State originally from Birmingham. The quirky documentary “Courting Condi”  traces the journey of a man in his 20s to meet the woman of his dreams, Condoleezza Rice.

Or so the trailer would have you believe.

The film screens Sept. 26 at the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival.

Viewers will quickly figure out this film is actually about Rice herself, a k a Condi. Our lovestruck hero turns out to be completely fictional, a framing device to move the documentary forward.

But it doesn’t work, serving to distract from the film’s true message. And the musical interludes? Really bad and frustrating to sit through.

[Editor’s note: Perhaps this column is the basis for the original idea.]

The movie takes us through the life of a controversial political figure from birth through the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to 2009. And it reminds us of Rice’s role in the George W. Bush administration, throwing in some lesser-known nuggets of intel.

This one is a hard call. If director Sebastian Doggart had cut a few of the silly bits woven throughout the “real” documentary, “Courting Condi” might have been a really great movie.

Jennifer West (@juniperlou) won the Sidewalk Audience Choice award for her romantic comedy “Piece of Cake” in 2006, which she wrote and directed. She’s working on a feature-length screenplay and blogging about it on JuniperLou.

“Courting Condi” will screen at 12:30 p.m. Sept. 26 at the Birmingham Museum of Art.

Trailer: “Courting Condi”

How to woo a Secretary of State

Also:

• Official site
• Sidewalk summary
• Reviews from Cinema Signals | Documentary Films.net | ReelTalk | Screen Junkies | Socially Superlative

• • •

Action! Complete Sidewalk Festival coverage.

Movie review: ‘Forgetting Dad’

sidewalk.wadeonbirmingham.com
By Kenn McCracken

Review at a glance: “Forgetting Dad” provides a chance to explore questions of identity and memory in a doc about a dad who loses his memory and moves on to another family.

“Old Richard” and Rick Minnich on graduation day
in 1990, in a still from “Forgetting Dad.”

“If your father no longer remembers you, does he stop being your father?”

The answer, of course, depends on who you ask. Director Rick Minnich asks the question in his documentary, “Forgetting Dad.” More interesting are the questions that such an exploration can — and in this case, does — uncover.

The film screens Sept. 26 at the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival.

In 1990, a car accident caused Minnich’s father to lose his memory, or so it seems, since no physical damage was ever uncovered. The amnesia gradually caused the family to fall apart, creating a divide between what he terms as “Old Richard” and “New Richard.” Minnich spent years documenting his exploration of his own memories and connections to New Richard.

Trailer: “Forgetting Dad”

The narrative seems to move a bit slowly at times. But it is put together so new questions — wrinkles in the fabric of the story — introduce themselves gradually and naturally, creating a layered, thought-provoking examination of family, identity, memory and self that should be of interest to anyone.

Also, Minnich manages to avoid what I feared: playing the personal connection for cheap emotional reaction. Not to say that the family members are without emotion, but rather that the simple honesty and rawness in the presentation doesn’t feel manipulative.

Mom wonders if Richard’s amnesia could be fake
in this clip from “Forgetting Dad.”

From a production standpoint, the film itself is nothing terribly unique. The cinematography is mostly quite passable, current interview footage interspersed with old 8mm family films. The audio mix seems a bit uneven, making it difficult to focus on the interviewees at times.

Also, momentary blackouts of the picture occurred (the audio was clear throughout), hopefully a glitch limited to my screener copy. Those were very jarring, especially well into the film.

It’s certainly not the strongest documentary you’ll have the chance to see over the weekend, but those interested in the workings of the human brain and mind, or the dynamics of family memory, will find a provocative story.

Kenn McCracken (@insomniactive) is a director and an award-winning screenwriter (2005 Sidewalk Sidewrite grand prize, “Muckfuppet”).

He’s also a writer (Birmingham Weekly, Spin.com, mental_floss), a bassist for the Exhibit(s), an eight-time cat juggling champion for Malta and an ongoing experiment in sleep deprivation. He occasionally steals your best ideas to claim at his blog, Dairy of a Madman.

“Forgetting Dad” will screen at 4:30 p.m. Sept. 26 at Branch Life Church.

Also:

• Official site
• Sidewalk summary
• Reviews from 1More Film Blog | Exclaim.ca | CityNews

• • •

Action! Complete Sidewalk Festival coverage.

Just a quick preview of what lies ahead this month …

• We’ll have a special Artwalk preview next week. The free downtown art festival takes place Sept. 11-12.

• We’ll have our annual extended coverage of the 11th annual Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival, also downtown on Sept. 25-27. Look for movie reviews, preview coverage, site coverage and a whole lot more.

• And don’t forget the “Food Inc.” screening at Bottletree Cafe this Labor Day weekend.

What else is going on this month? Let us know what we should be covering by leaving a comment.

sidewalk.wadeonbirmingham.com

A first: documentary on opening night

“Best Worst Movie,” a documentary about the so-called worst movie of all time, will open the 2009 Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival. The selection marks the first time a documentary feature, rather than a narrative feature, has opened the 11-year-old event.

The festival announced the selection this morning on its site, along with e-mail, Twitter, Facebook and Fox 6.

The movie catches up with the stars of the much-maligned “Troll 2,” a horror movie made in 1989 in Utah that neither featured trolls nor was a sequel. The Italian director, as well as the crew, spoke no English, but worked with an American cast, including Alexander City’s George Hardy. (Organizers plan to show “Troll 2,” though the time and the location have not been announced.)

“Best Worst Movie” has won awards from various festivals, including South by Southwest.

In an interview with the Birmingham News earlier this year, Hardy discussed the unique aspects of “Troll 2,” saying with a laugh, “One of my lines is, ‘Go away, monster.'”

It screens at 8 p.m. Friday at the Alabama Theatre. Tickets are $12, $10 for members in advance. Scheduled to appear are director and producer Michael Paul Stephenson, producers Lindsay Stephenson, Brad Klopman and Jim Klopman, and stars Hardy and Jason Steadman.

Official site | Sidewalk page | IMDB

• • •

Have you seen “Troll 2”? Will you be at Sidewalk on opening night?

Action! Complete Sidewalk Festival coverage.

sidewalk.wadeonbirmingham.com

Details about the lineup for the 2009 Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival have been trickling out this week.

Among the 60-plus blocks, we take a closer look at the movies with an Alabama connection, complete with preview videos.

(Only the opening night film remains to be announced. The opening night film has been announced.)

The lineup so far:

• Competitive features
• Noncompetitive features
• Closing night films
• Schedule grid

The 11th annual Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival takes place Sept 25-27 in downtown Birmingham. Tickets: two-day pass, $15, $12 for members; opening night film $12, $10 for members.

• • •

‘Alabama Moon’

John Goodman stars as “Mr. Wellington” in “Alabama Moon,”
premiering at the 2009 Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival.

World premiere. One of two closing night films, “Alabama Moon” is based on the award-winning children’s book of the same name by Point Clear native Watt Key. Set in the early 1980s, the movie focuses on 11-year-old Moon Blake who hides out in the Alabama forests with his radical father. Suddenly orphaned, Moon must learn to adapt to the world around him on his own. Filmed in Louisiana.

• Stars Jimmy Bennett, John Goodman and Clint Howard.
• Directed by Tim McCanlies.
• IMDB
• 6:30 p.m. Sept. 27 at the Alabama Theatre
• Scheduled to attend: Howard, Gabriel Basso, Uriah Shelton, producer/Tuscaloosa native Lee Faulkner and composer Ludek Drizhal.

• • •

‘Courting Condi’

A pseudo-documentary about one man’s object of desire, former Secretary of State (and Birmingham native) Condoleeza Rice.

• Directed by Sebastian Doggart.
• Official site | IMDB
• 12:30 p.m. Sept. 26 at the Birmingham Museum of Art

• • •

‘Interplanetary’

North American premiere. Five years after making a splash at Sidewalk with the horror-comedy “Hide and Creep,” Birmingham-based Crewless Productions returns with a sci-fi-comedy set on Mars about a slasher loose on a corporate base. Filmed in Birmingham.

• Stars Melissa Bush, Chuck Hartsell and Kyle Holman. (And yours truly.)
• Directed by Chance Shirley.
• Official site | IMDB
• 4:15 p.m. Sept. 27 at the Carver Theatre

• • •

Shorts blocks

• Films from August’s Scramble, 6:15 p.m. Sept. 26 at Alabama Power
• UAB Digital City, 11 a.m. Sept. 26 at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
• Local shorts No. 1, 9 p.m. Sept. 26 at Alabama Power
• Local shorts No. 3, 11 a.m. Sept. 27 at Alabama Power [we’re not sure what happened to No. 2]

• • •

‘So Long Are You Young’

A documentary about “Youth,” written by Birmingham businessman, author and humanitarian Samuel Ullman in 1917. The poem lives on to influence political leaders Robert and Ted Kennedy, Panasonic founder Konosuke Matsushita, Nobel Peace Prize winner and president of Korea Kim Dae-jung and Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

• Directed by Judith Shaeffer.
• Listing in the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
• 12:45 p.m. Sept. 27 at the Young and Vann Building

• • •

‘They Came to Play’

A documentary about the entrants in the Van Cliburn Foundation’s piano competition, including Birmingham ophthalmologist Drew Mays.

• Directed by Alex Rotaru.
• Official site | IMDB
• 6:45 p.m. Sept. 27 at the Birmingham Museum of Art

• • •

Which ones will you see? Let us know in the comments.

Action! Complete Sidewalk Festival coverage.

Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival updates …

• Awhile back, a long while back, we promised numbers from May’s Birmingham Shout gay/lesbian film festival. Here’s where we stand:

Officials at the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival, which runs the annual event, declined repeated requests for revenue figures form the two-day event. Shout festival director Ralph Young said that attendance increased 250 percent from 2008 to 2009, though it’s unclear how he arrived at this figure.

He states that 2009 attendance was 710 (135 on opening night and 575 the following day). In 2008, the one-day festival attracted 285 attendees, but this accounts for only a 149 percent increase. For comparison, the 2009 festival had 13 feature-length films and a shorts block, while 2008 had five films and one short, and 2007 had 14 films and three shorts (over three days).

Ticket prices for 2009 were $20 to $25 for opening night and $20 for all day Saturday, or $12 per film.

Chloe Collins, Sidewalk’s executive director, said:

“The Alabama Moving Image Association [Sidewalk’s umbrella organization] presents numerous events throughout the year (Sidewalk, Shout, Scrambles, Teen Filmmaking Challenge etc.), and each of these events have expenses and incomes, making up the total AMIA budget.

“Like most nonprofit organizations who host multiple events throughout the year, AMIA provides the expense and income information for the entire season, as requested by the various organizations from whom we seek funding and as required by law.”

Other Sidewalk updates:

• The festival launched a three-week Kick the Bucket online fund-raiser with a goal of $10,000. Despite extending the campaign by a week, it appears the effort fell short by a considerable amount. The last update said it had raised $2,861 as of Aug. 31. Update: The campaign raised $5,864.
• Speaking of fund-raisers, Theatre Downtown is donating all proceeds to Sidewalk from its 8 p.m. Sunday performance of “Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean.” Performances take place at Birmingham AIDS Outreach, 205 32nd St. S., Ste. 101, Lakeview [map]. Tickets — $17, $12 for senior citizens and students — can be purchased online or by calling (205) 306-1470.
• The schedule, originally to be posted Aug. 10, should be posted Friday on the site, according to today’s e-mail newsletter.
• Lastly, the November Sidewalk Scramble has been moved to this month, with entries to be screened at this year’s festival on Sept. 25-27. Registration, $50, closes 5 p.m. Monday, with competition taking place Aug. 28-30. For more information, visit the Scramble page.

Update Aug. 21: Sidewalk schedule delayed till next week. The word from organizers:

The Sidewalk Staff is pleased to announce that we have secured a new screening venue, giving us a grand total of 8, all located in downtown Birmingham. Because of this exciting development, we are now having to reorganize the official schedule and will not be able to post it today.

In addition, we’ve had some exciting developments with our Opening and Closing Night films, special screenings, and more. So, beginning on Monday, we will be giving you updates every day next week, beginning with the Sidewalk Minute on Fox 6, starting at about 7:50am. Stay tuned to your inbox, sidewalkfest.com, Facebook, and Twitter to stay on top of all things Sidewalk.

To whet your appetite, here’s a sneak peek at some of the films we’ll be showing at Sidewalk:

• “Etienne”
• “Dear Lemon Lima”
• “We Fun”
• “Lightning Salad Moving Picture”
• “Autistic Like”
• “Modern Love is Automatic”

• • •

More Sidewalk coverage.

A few exclusive updates on the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival from tonight’s monthly Sidewalk Salon:

• As mentioned on our Twitter update, the July edition of the Scramble filmmaking competition has been canceled. Organizers said they wanted to concentrate on the main festival for Sept. 25-27. The July contest would have lasted 10 days, rather than the typical 48 hours. The next Scramble will take place Nov. 6-8, with screening date to be determined.

• No numbers available yet on this past weekend’s Birmingham Shout gay/lesbian film festival. Look for them on Wade on Birmingham later this week.

• Five of the six venues for Sidewalk 2009 have been locked in, says executive director Chloe Collins, all familiar sites to festivalgoers:

• Alabama Theatre
• Carver Theatre
• Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
• Alabama Power
• McWane Science Center

The sixth venue will be either the previously used Hill Arts Center (a k a the Alabama Showplace, next to the Alabama Theatre) or a new-to-Sidewalk venue, the Harambe Room at Wee Care Academy [map].

• Regions Bank will not repeat as title sponsor for the festival. Collins says organizers are not actively pursuing title sponsors, instead going after a wider group of smaller sponsors. However, she did not rule out the possibility of another title sponsor. The 2008 festival marked the first time any title sponsor was in place.

• Organizers have restructured membership packages into four levels (Limestone, Iron, Fire and Steel) with a separate one for students and military members (Coal).

• • •

More Sidewalk coverage.

So much good stuff happening in the Birmingham area at the tail end of May …

First, the Preserve Jazz Festival at Moss Rock Preserve in Hoover, one of our favorite music festivals in town put on by our friend, jazzman Eric Essix. The lineup includes Jazz Attack (with Rick Braun, Jonathan Butler and Richard Elliott), Tracy Hamlin and Essix.

Tickets are $33, $38 at the door. 3 p.m. Sunday.

Video: Rick Braun interview

• • •

The Birmingham Shout film festival kicks off tonight at WorkPlay in Lakeview with “Sissyboy.” The two-day event features gay and lesbian feature films, documentaries and shorts from the folks at Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival.

Tickets for tonight’s film are $20, $25 at the door ($15 for members and students). Tickets for Saturday are $20 in advance or $12 per film ($15 in advance for members and students, $7 per film). 8 tonight, and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday.

Video: “Sissyboy” trailer

Also:

• Birmingham Weekly: “The 2009 Shout Out”

• • •

Go back in time with the Birmingham Urban League Young Professionals Throwback Prom. Bust out the big lapels and ruffles and dance to the tunes of DJ Brian B. It takes place at Highland Conference Center on Southside.

Tickets are $20, $25 at the door. 8 tonight.

Video: DJ Brian B cutting it up and scratching

An outsider takes the reins at downtown festival

[Share on Facebook | Twitter]

The first executive director was a co-founder, serving for eight years. The second rose through the ranks, serving for two years.

The third started Friday.

[Wade on Birmingham:
EXCLUSIVE: Sidewalk hires Chloe Collins as Executive Director]

Chloe Collins has pored over the budget, fielded dozens of congratulatory e-mails and met with board members and volunteers alike. In taking the reins of the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival, she inherits a 10-year-old film festival with a nearly $10,000 budget shortfall and less than five months until show time.

“The biggest challenge I can see is just getting my arms around what all is involved,” Collins says. “As I learn more, I’m realizing there are lots of people who play such an important role with the festival, and those people haven’t gone away.”

In this exclusive interview, Collins discusses what’s ahead for the festival and how she went from casual moviegoer to executive director. She talked with us in person last week.

(more…)

We spoke this afternoon with Chloe Collins, the new executive director of Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival, a follow-up to our exclusive story from Wednesday.

Here’s a video teaser of the soon-to-be-published story. Collins discusses her vision for the annual downtown film festival.

• • •

More Sidewalk coverage.