Sidewalk’s Book + Film Club unites movie and book lovers for a monthly film screening and discussion about famous films and the people who make them. The registration deadline is the first Friday of each month. Books are mailed to participants or available for pick-up at the cinema following this deadline. On the fourth Wednesday of the month, we host a screening of a film related to the book and host a round-table discussion.
Support for Book and Film Club comes from Left Hand Soap Company and the Alabama Arts License Tag Initiative. Please email jessica@sidewalkfest.com with any questions about Book + Film Club!
Each session is $35 – Registration includes book, film screening & discussion
Buy 3+ months at once and get 10% off your registration.
See all of our 2023 Book + Film Club Sessions here.
Past Titles:
February: Oscar Micheaux, America’s first Black filmmaker
Book: Oscar Micheaux: The Great and Only: The Life of America’s First Black Filmmaker
Film: Murder in Harlem
March: Annie Atkins and the Props of Wes Anderson
Film: The Grand Budapest Hotel
April: The ’70s
Book: The Seventies: The Decade That Changed American Film Forever
Film: American Graffiti
May: Pauline Kael
Book: I Lost it At The Movies
Film: What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael
June: Women on Desire in Cinema
Book: She Found it at the Movies: Women Writers on Sex, Desire and Cinema
Film: Set it Off
July: Richard Pryor
Book: Furious Cool: Richard Pryor and The World That Made Him
Film: Stir Crazy
August: Flash Gordon
Book: Flash Gordon: The Official Story of the Film
Film: Flash Gordon
September: John Waters
Book: Shock Value: A Tasteful Book About Bad Taste
Film: Serial Mom
October: Wes Craven
Book: Wes Craven: The Man and His Nightmares
Film: Scream
Noirvember: Film Noir
Book: Close-Up on Sunset Boulevard: Billy Wilder, Norma Desmond, and the Dark Hollywood Dream
Film: Sunset Boulevard
January – David Lynch
Book: Lynch on Lynch by Chris Rodley
Film: Mulholland Drive (dir. David Lynch, 2001)
February – Nora Ephron
Book: I’ll Have What She’s Having: How Nora Ephron’s Three Iconic Films Saved the Romantic Comedy by Erin Carlson
Film: When Harry Met Sally… (dir. Rob Reiner, 1989)
March – Hitchcock
Book: Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (Cambridge Film Handbooks) by John Belton
Film: Rear Window (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1954)
April – Prince
Book: Purple Rain: Music on Film Series by John Kenneth Muir
Film: Purple Rain (dir. Albert Magnoli, 1984)
May – Ozu Yasujiro
Book: The Cinema of Ozu Yasujiro: Histories of the Everyday by Woojeong Joo
Film: An Autumn Afternoon (dir. Yasujirō Ozu, 1962)
June – Do the Right Thing
Book: BFI Film Classics: Do The Right Thing by Ed Guerrero
Film: Do the Right Thing (dir. Spike Lee, 1989)
July – Don’t Look Now
Book: BFI Film Classics: Don’t Look Now by Mark Sanderson
Film: Don’t Look Now (dir. Nicolas Roeg, 1973)
August – Coraline
Book: Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Film: Coraline (dir. Henry Selick, 2009)
September – Twilight
Book: The Twilight Mystique: Critical Essays on the Novels and Films edited by Amy M. Clarke and Marijane Osborn
Film: Twilight (dir. Catherine Hardwicke, 2008)
October – Halloween III
Book: The Films of John Carpenter by John Kenneth Muir
Film: Halloween III: Season of the Witch (dir. Tommy Lee Wallace, 1982)
November – John Singleton
Book: John Singleton Interviews, edited by Craigh Barboza
Film: Boyz n the Hood (dir. John Singleton, 1991)
December – Todd Haynes
Book: Todd Haynes: Interviews, edited by Julia Leyda
Film: Carol(dir. Todd Haynes, 2015)
January – Charlie Chaplin
Book: Charlie Chaplin: A Brief Life by Peter Ackroyd
Film: City Lights (dir. Charlie Chaplin, 1931)
February – This is Spinal Tap
Book: This is Spinal Tap: Music on Film Series by John Kenneth Muir
Film: This is Spinal Tap (dir. Rob Reiner, 1984)
March – Women in Horror (Virtual edition!)
Book: Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in Modern Horror Film by Carol J. Clover
Film: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (dir. Ana Lily Amirpour, 2014)
April – Women’s Work and Old Hollywood (Virtual edition!)
Book: Independent Stardom: Freelance Women in the Studio System by Emily Carman
Film: Double Indemnity (dir. Billy Wilder, 1944)
May – Jane Campion (Virtual edition!)
Book: Jane Campion: Authorship and Personal Cinema by Alistair Fox
Film: The Piano (dir. Jane Campion, 1993)
June – Racial Politics and Hollywood (Virtual edition!)
Book: The Hollywood Jim Crow: The Racial Politics of the Movie Industry by Maryann Erigha
Film: The Magnificent Seven (dir. Antoine Fuqua, 2016)
July – Christopher Nolan (Virtual edition!)
Book: Christopher Nolan: A Critical Study of the Films
Film: Memento (dir. Christopher Nolan, 2000)
August – ’80s Comedy Mavericks
Book: Wild and Crazy Guys: How the Comedy Mavericks of the ’80s Changed Hollywood Forever
Film: Beverly Hills Cop (dir. Martin Brest, 1984)
September – Sofia Coppola
Book: Sofia Coppola: The Politics of Visual Pleasure
Film: The Virgin Suicides (dir. Sofia Coppola, 1999)
October – The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Book: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Film That Terrified a Rattled Nation
Film: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (dir. Tobe Hooper, 1974)
November – Agnes Varda
Book: Cléo de 5 à 7
Film: Cléo de 5 à 7 (dir. Agnes Varda, 1962)
December – Christmas Movies!
Book: The Christmas Movie Book
Film: Little Women (dir. Greta Gerwig, 2019)
January 2021 – The Fog of War
Book: Believing is Seeing: Observations on the Mysteries of Photography by Errol Morris
Film: The Fog of War (2003, dir. Errol Morris)
February 2021 – Howard Hughes
Book: Sex, Lies, and Stardom in Howard Hughes’ Hollywood by Karina Longworth
Film: The Aviator (2004, dir. Martin Scorsese)
March 2021 – James Bond
Book: Some Kind of Hero: The Remarkable Story of the James Bonds Films by Matthew Field
Film: Skyfall (2012, dir. Anthony Schatteman)
April – Jim Henson
Book: Jim Henson by Brian Jay Jones
Film: The Muppet Movie (1979, dir. James Frawley)
May – American Music Documentary
Book: American Music Documentary: Five Case Studies of Cine-Ethnomusicology by Benjamin J. Harbert
Film: Gimme Shelter (1970, dir. Charlotte Zwerin, David Maysles, Albert Maysles)
June – Guerrilla Filmmaking
Book: Sweet Sweeback’s Baadasssss Song: A Guerilla Filmmaking Manifesto
Film: Sweet Sweeback’s Baadasssss Song
July – Barbara Kopple
Book: Barbara Kopple: Interviews, Edited by Gregory Brown
Film: Harlan County U.S.A. (1976, dir. Barbara Kopple)
August – Guillermo del Toro
Book: The Supernatural Cinema of Guillermo del Toro, edited by John W. Morehead
Film: The Devil’s Backbone (2001, dir. Guillermo del Toro)
September – Uncovering ’80s Nostalgia
Film: E.T. (1982, dir. Steven Spielberg)
October – Get Out
Book: Jordan Peele’s Get Out: Political Horror by Dawn Keetley
Film: Get Out (2017, dir. Jordan Peele)
November – New Queer Cinema
Book: New Queer Cinema: A Critical Reader by Michele Aaron
Film: Appropriate Behavior (2014, dir. Desiree Akhavan)
December – It’s A Wonderful Life
Book: The Essential It’s a Wonderful Life: A Scene-by-Scene Guide to the Classic Film by Michael Willian
Film: It’s A Wonderful Life (1946, dir. Frank Capra)
January: Paul Thomas Anderson
Book: Paul Thomas Anderson: Masterworks
Film: Magnolia