Festival Spotlights
With a mantra of “something for everyone”, Sidewalk actively strives to bring a variety of film to its audience. To that end, we are pleased to highlight civil and social issues in our Life + Liberty track, black filmmakers and diversity-related topics in our Black Lens track, and LGBTQ filmmakers and stories with our SHOUT track. As an Alabama festival in a city with multiple universities, we also spotlight local and student filmmakers in our Alabama track.
Black Lens
Black Lens aims to shine a light on some of the most outstanding narrative and documentary films directed by, produced by, and/or starring Black filmmakers. The films that are shown as a part of this program reflect the diversity of the Black experience in America and internationally, both past and present.
SHOUT
SHOUT was launched in 2006 and showcases features, documentaries, and short films that explore issues and situations involving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities. SHOUT is Alabama’s first gay & lesbian film festival and is proud to support the Magic City’s LGBTQ+ community by advocating for awareness, acceptance, and appreciation of diversity.
ALABAMA
Alabama might not be the first place that comes to mind when you think about filmmaking, but the craft is alive and well in the deep south. Sidewalk’s mission is to encourage, inspire, and support filmmaking and the appreciation of independent film in Alabama, and one of the many ways we serve this mission is through the Alabama films track at the festival each year. These are films that were either shot in Alabama, were made by an Alabama-based filmmaker, or utilized Alabama cast and crew- sometimes all three.
Life + Liberty
Life & Liberty Films focus on historic civil rights events and modern-day human rights issues. The Life & Liberty track, now in its 14th year, was inspired by the growing popularity of films covering these important issues as well as Birmingham’s own place in civil rights history