We can’t believe the festival is over – in this unsettling year, we are so grateful for the chance to bring the best in indie film to Birmingham in person and bring a little bit of normalcy to life. Thank you to our filmmakers for sharing your films with us, and to our amazing jurors for your help in choosing this year’s award winners. Some of our awards have cash prizes and some do not – the ones with cash prizes are indicated with a prize value in parentheses.

 

JURY AWARDS

 

STUDENT AND FAMILY FILMS

 

Best Student Film ($250) – Slave 2

Student Film Honorable Mention for Creativity in Editing – Lunar Powers

Best Family Film ($250) – Tobi and the Turbobus

Family Film Honorable Mention – The Treasures of Mrs. Grady’s Library

 

BLACK LENS

 

Best Black Lens Film ($250) – Adullam

Honorable Mention for Black Lens as a Must-See Film – After Selma

Black Lens Filmmaker Grant Recipient ($1,000) – Elisha Williams

The Black Lens Filmmaker Grant is sponsored by The Law Firm of Stacey A. Davis.

 

ALABAMA FILMS

 

Alan Hunter Best Alabama Feature ($500) – Jasper Mall

Honorable Mention for Outstanding Performance (Virginia Newcomb) and for Strength in Short-Form Storytelling – Doodle

 

SHOUT

 

Best SHOUT Feature ($500) – Transhood

Best SHOUT Short ($250) – Vote Neil

Special SHOUT Jury Mention – We

 

FEATURES

 

Best Documentary Feature ($1,000) – Feels Good Man

Special Jury Prize for Editing – Coming Clean

Jambor-Franklin Founders’ Award for Best Narrative Feature ($500) – The Immortal Jellyfish

Honorable Mention for Outstanding Performance (Krisha Fairchild) – Freeland

Feature Programmers’ Award ($500) – Giants Being Lonely

Best Life & Liberty Film  ($250) – Coming Clean

Spirit of Sidewalk Award – Suzi Quatro

 

SHORTS

 

Best Narrative Short ($500) – Public Lot

Best Documentary Short ($500) – Conviction

Best Animated Short ($250) – If Anything Happens I Love You

Reel South SHORT Award ($1,000) – Coup d’Etat Math

Kathryn Tucker Windham Storytelling Award ($250) – Tantalization

Shorts Programmers’ Award ($250) – Good Guy With A Gun

Shorts Honorable Mention – Dafa Metti

Shorts Honorable Mention – Mizuko

 

AUDIENCE AWARDS

 

Best Narrative Feature ($250) – The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain

Best Documentary Feature ($250) – Transhood

Best Narrative Short ($150) – Lunar Powers

Best Documentary Short ($150) – Invasion: the Unis’tot’en’s fight for Sovereignty

Best Alabama Film ($150) – Jasper Mall

Best Black Lens Film ($250) – After Selma

Best SHOUT Film ($250) – A Short Story About the Life of Elise

 

SIDEWRITE SCREENPLAY COMPETITION AWARDS

 

Best Alabama Screenplay ($250) – “The Sympathetic Martian” by Scott Turner and Jim Torres

Best Short Screenplay ($250) – “Lab Partners” by Tommy Britt

Best Feature Screenplay ($500) – “Riding Shotgun” by Nafi Ayvaci

 

August 21-27, 2023

Sidewalk Film Festival

More info