2021 Sundance Film Festival x Sidewalk Satellite is sponsored by Alabama Allergy & Asthma Center
Sidewalk is excited to announce that we are an official Satellite Screen Partner for the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.
Join us in Downtown Birmingham January 28 – February 3 at our Cinema and our Starlite Pop-Up Drive-In.
Tickets on sale now!
Our Locations:
Sidewalk Cinema – 1821 2nd Ave N, Birmingham, AL 35203
Sidewalk Starlite Pop-up Drive-In – 1801 1st Ave. N., Birmingham, AL 35203
Click here to see our venue on Sundance’s website.
Click here to review our health + safety guidelines.
Films:
Latest additions:
Judas and the Black Messiah / Narrative (Directed by Shaka King) — Fred Hampton’s cathartic words “I am a revolutionary” became a rallying call in 1969. As chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, Hampton demanded all power to the people and inspired a growing movement of solidarity, prompting the FBI to consider him a threat and to plant informant William O’Neal to infiltrate the party. Judas and the Black Messiah not only recounts Hampton’s legacy and the FBI’s conspiring but also gives equal footing to the man who became infamous for his betrayal—highlighting the systems of inequality and oppression that fed both of their roles.
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Son of Monarchs / Narrative (Directed by Alexis Gambis) — Enchanted by the monarch butterflies of Michoacán, Mexico, since he was a child, Mendel dedicates his career as a scientist in New York to mapping out the monarch’s genetics. But he is haunted by flashbacks of being orphaned alongside his older brother, Simon, when their parents died in a flood. When Mendel travels home to attend the funeral of his grandmother, it’s clear Simon harbors deep resentment toward him for having left. Migrating back and forth between Mexico and New York, Mendel starts to neglect his new girlfriend and grows spiritually restless as he obsesses over the iconic butterfly. Then he confronts his brother about what really happened the night their parents died.
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Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) / Narrative (Directed by Benh Zeitlin) — Highlighting one of the most successful films to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, Sidewalk presents a special drive-in screening of the 2012 film BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD directed by Sidewalk alum Benh Zeitlin. Nearing its 10 year anniversary, BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD was shot in Terrebonne Parish, Montegut and New Orleans Louisiana
Synopsis: Faced with both her hot-tempered father’s fading health and melting ice-caps that flood her ramshackle bayou community and unleash ancient aurochs, six-year-old Hushpuppy must learn the ways of courage and love.
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Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) Live Score Drive-In Party / An alternate soundtrack to the 1993 film MRS. DOUBTFIRE will be performed live at the drive-in by DJ Hollywood. The film will be captioned along with the live score which will be broadcast via your car radio. This event is free, but registration is required.
Censor / United Kingdom (Director: Prano Bailey-Bond, Screenwriters: Prano Bailey-Bond, Anthony Fletcher, Producer: Helen Jones) — When film censor Enid discovers an eerie horror that speaks directly to her sister’s mysterious disappearance, she resolves to unravel the puzzle behind the film and its enigmatic director – a quest blurring the lines between fiction and reality in terrifying ways. Cast: Niamh Algar, Nicholas Burns, Vincent Franklin, Sophia La Porta, Adrian Schiller, Michael Smiley. World Premiere.
The Most Beautiful Boy in the World / Sweden (Directors: Kristina Lindström, Kristian Petri, Producer: Stina Gardell) — Swedish actor/musician Björn Andresen’s life was forever changed at the age of 15, when he played Tadzio, the object of Dirk Bogarde’s obsession in Death in Venice – a role which led Italian maestro Luchino Visconti to dub him “the world’s most beautiful boy.” World Premiere
Cryptozoo / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Dash Shaw, Producers: Kyle Martin, Jane Samborski, Bill Way, Tyler Davidson) — As cryptozookeepers struggle to capture a Baku (a legendary dream-eating hybrid creature) they begin to wonder if they should display these rare beasts in the confines of a cryptozoo, or if these mythical creatures should remain hidden and unknown. Cast: Lake Bell, Michael Cera, Angeliki Papoulia, Zoe Kazan, Peter Stormare, Grace Zabriskie. World Premiere
In The Earth / United Kingdom (Director and Screenwriter: Ben Wheatley, Producer: Andy Starke) — As a disastrous virus grips the planet, a scientist and a park scout venture deep into the forest for a routine equipment run. Through the night, their journey becomes a terrifying voyage through the heart of darkness as the forest comes to life around them. Cast: Joel Fry, Ellora Torchia, Hayley Squires, Reece Shearsmith. World Premiere, Narrative
R#J / U.S.A. (Director: Carey Williams, Screenwriters: Carey Williams, Rickie Castaneda, Alex Sobolev, Producers: Timur Bekmambetov, Igor Tsay, John J. Kelly, Alex Sobolev, Anna Soboleva) — A re-imagining of Romeo and Juliet, taking place through their cell phones, in a mash-up of Shakespearean dialogue with current social media communication. Cast: Camaron Engels, Francesca Noel, David Zayas, Diego Tinoco, Siddiq Saunderson, Russell Hornsby. World Premiere
Passing / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Rebecca Hall, Producers: Forest Whitaker, Nina Yang Bongiovi, Margot Hand, Rebecca Hall) — Two African-American women who can “pass” as white choose to live on opposite sides of the color line in 1929 New York in an exploration of racial and gender identity, performance, obsession and repression. Based on the novella by Nella Larsen. Cast: Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga, André Holland, Alexander Skarsgård, Bill Camp. World Premiere
Misha and the Wolves / United Kingdom, Belgium (Director and Screenwriter: Sam Hobkinson, Producers: Poppy Dixon, Al Morrow, Matthew Wells, Gregory Zalcman, Jürgen Buedts) — A woman’s Holocaust memoir takes the world by storm, but a fallout with her publisher-turned-detective reveals her story as an audacious deception created to hide a darker truth. World Premiere
Hive / Kosovo, Switzerland, Macedonia, Albania (Director and Screenwriter: Blerta Basholli, Producers: Yll Uka, Valon Bajgora, Agon Uka) — Fahrije’s husband has been missing since the war in Kosovo. She sets up her own small business to provide for her kids, but as she fights against a patriarchal society that does not support her, she faces a crucial decision: to wait for his return, or to continue to persevere. Cast: Yllka Gashi, Çun Lajçi, Aurita Agushi, Kumrije Hoxha, Adriana Matoshi, Kaona Sylejmani. World Premiere.
Jockey / U.S.A. (Director: Clint Bentley, Screenwriters: Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Producers: Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Nancy Schafer) — An aging jockey is determined to win one last championship, but his dream is complicated when a young rookie shows up claiming to be his son. Cast: Clifton Collins Jr., Molly Parker, Moises Arias. World Premiere
Mother Schmuckers / Belgium (Directors and Screenwriters: Lenny Guit, Harpo Guit, Producers: David Borgeaud, Erika Meda) — Issachar & Zabulon, two brothers in their twenties, are supremely stupid and never bored, as madness is part of their daily lives. When they lose their mother’s beloved dog, they have 24 hours to find it – or she will kick them out. Cast: Harpo Guit, Maxi Delmelle, Claire Bodson, Mathieu Amalric, Habib Ben Tanfous. World Premiere
Coming Home in the Dark / New Zealand (Director: James Ashcroft, Screenwriters: Eli Kent, James Ashcroft, Producers: Mike Minogue, Catherine Fitzgerald, Desray Armstrong) — A family’s outing descends into terror when teacher Alan Hoaganraad, his wife Jill and stepsons Maika and Jordon explore an isolated coastline. An unexpected meeting with a pair of drifters, the enigmatic psychopath Mandrake and his accomplice Tubs, thrusts the family into a nightmare when they find themselves captured. Cast: Daniel Gillies, Erik Thomson, Miriama McDowell, Matthias Luafutu. World Premiere
Life in a Day 2020 / United Kingdom, U.S.A. (Director: Kevin Macdonald, Producers: Jack Arbuthnott, Tim Partridge) — An extraordinary, intimate, global portrait of life on our planet, filmed by thousands of people across the world, on a single day: 25th July 2020. World Premiere
Philly D.A. / U.S.A. (Created By: Ted Passon, Yoni Brook, Nicole Salazar, Producers: Ted Passon, Yoni Brook, Nicole Salazar, Josh Penn, Michael Gottwald) — A groundbreaking inside look at the long shot election and tumultuous first term of Larry Krasner, Philadelphia’s unapologetic District Attorney, and his experiment to upend the criminal justice system from the inside out. World Premiere, Episodic Documentary
Night of the Kings / France, Ivory Coast, Canada, Senegal (Director and Screenwriter: Philippe Lacôte, Producers: Delphine Jaquet, Yanick Létourneau, Ernest Konan, Yoro Mbaye) — A young man is sent to La Maca, a prison on the Ivory Coast in the middle of the forest ruled by its prisoners. With the red moon rising, he is designated by the Boss to be the new “Roman” and must tell a story to the other prisoners. Cast: Koné Bakary, Steve Tientcheu, Digbeu Jean Cyrille, Rasmané Ouédraogo, Issaka Sawadogo, Denis Lavant.Beyond Film Programming:
THE ART OF THE INTERVIEW WITH ONDI TIMONER / A conversation with two-time Sundance Grand Jury Prize Winner Ondi Timoner about the art of the interview. Hosted by director/producer/actor Farah White.
Ondi Timoner is the only filmmaker to win the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival twice, for Dig! (2004) about the collision of art and commerce through the eyes of two rival rock bands, and We Live in Public (2009) about the loss of privacy and intimacy in the age of online as demonstrated through the social experiments of visionary Josh Harris. Both films were acquired for the permanent collection of MoMA NY.
In 2017, she directed her first scripted film, Mapplethorpe, starring Matt Smith – which she also wrote, produced and edited. The film was released theatrically in 2019 after winning eight Audience Awards and Best Narrative Feature at several festivals. The Mapplethorpe Director’s Cut will be released in the Spring of 2021.
Ondi premiered Coming Clean, her feature documentary about the Opioid epidemic through the eyes of those on the front lines of recovery, in August 2020 which has been winning awards on a robust festival tour since and is opening theatrically in early 2021. She is also known for the award-winning documentaries, The Nature of the Beast about a racially-motivated miscarriage of justice, Join Us about mind control, Cool It about climate change, and Brand: A Second Coming about comedian/activist Russell Brand. In 2017, she created the ten-hour critically-acclaimed Viceland docu-series, Jungletown in the jungles of Panama.
Ondi has also enjoy a career in front of the camera, interviewing filmmakers and innovators for a number of shows. In 2011, she created and hosted BYOD (Bring Your Own Doc) for thelip.tv producing over 300 episodes with top documentary filmmakers over five years. In 2011, she created and hosted BYOD (Bring Your Own Doc) for thelip.tv producing over 300 episodes with top documentary filmmakers over five years. In 2012, she founded A Total Disruption, an online network dedicated to telling the stories of entrepreneurs & artists who are using technology to innovate new ways to live – subjects include musician Amanda Palmer, graphic artist Shepard Fairey, musician Moby, Twitter-founder Jack Dorsey, Instagram-founder Kevin Systrom, and the late Zappos founder, Tony Hsieh. She gave a popular TEDxKC talk entitled “When Genius and Insanity Hold Hands” explaining why she tells the stories of “impossible visionaries.” Ondi has released two master classes for filmmakers, “Lean Content” with Eric Ries and “How to Make a Great Documentary (In My Opinion).” Since 2018, Ondi has produced and hosted WeTalk, a traveling talk show about the women shaping our culture aimed at taking #MeToo to #WeDo. Timoner is a member of the DGA, PGA, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences
SCREENWRITING CONCEPTS WITH URSULA ELLIS / Writer/director Ursula Ellis takes us through fundamental concepts of screenwriting such as character, sequences, and dialogue. Using the film Winter’s Bone, Ursula illustrates how these concepts appear on-screen and offers concrete tips for how to use conflict in your script and move your story forward in a realistic and engaging way.
Ursula is an LA-based writer/director and alumna of the Northwestern University undergrad and Columbia University MFA film programs. An Army brat with West Virginia roots, she was born in Germany and grew up primarily in Alabama and Oklahoma. She is drawn to character-driven stories exploring intersectionality and agency, with a focus on regional settings and genre elements.
Her short films have screened at festivals like Fantasia, Denver, Woodstock, Indie Memphis, Mill Valley, Sarasota, and Cucalorus and premiered online via Seed&Spark, NoBudge, and Shudder. Her award-winning MFA thesis, Crick in the Holler, received an Alfred P. Sloan Production Grant.
Her feature & episodic scripts have placed in screenwriting fellowships and competitions including the Nicholls, CineStory, Scriptapalooza, Sundance Institute Labs, Tribeca/Sloan Filmmaker Fund (finalist), and received support from the CATWALK Institute and New York Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. Her pilot script, War is Kind, won the Lisa Rubin Award for Best Drama Teleplay & Faculty Selects at the 2019 Columbia University Film Festival of thesis and recent alumni work.
She is represented by Daniela Gonzalez and Antonio D’Intino at Circle of Confusion.
