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turns 17 this year, making the annual Birmingham event eligible to watch whichever R-rated movies that screen this weekend.
The 2015 edition will take place Friday through Sunday, Aug. 28-30 at various venues in downtown Birmingham.
Each year, the
festival attracts talent and audiences from all over the globe and offers a great focus on homegrown filmmakers who write and shoot their films in Alabama. The festival will see four feature-length Alabama-made films, with 33 shorts and documentaries scheduled to screen.
With several venues located within Birmingham's historic Theatre District (including the fully restored
), the festival offers low-priced weekend passes that give fans easy access to Sidewalk venues where they can walk in and out of a variety of narrative and documentary films throughout duration.
The event also offers receptions, retreats, parties, panel discussions, pop-up restaurants, live music and other elements geared towards attracting not only filmmakers and enthusiasts but general moviegoers from all over.
One difference you'll see this weekend is more live music, all of which are completely free for those in attendance. Performers include Mandi Rae, Steel City Jug Slammers, Michael Shakelford of Future Elevators, Nerves Baddington, Raquel Lily, Green Seed, Julia Weldon, The Old Paints, Parishop, Winston Ramble, Chelsea Whilding and Shaheed and DJ Supreme.
Other free events include Sidewalk panels, director Q&As and other special events listed on the Sidewalk website.
We talked to creative director and lead programmer
Rachel Morgan
, now in her ninth year with Sidewalk, about how this year might not differ all that much for 2014, which films you shouldn't miss and whether or not people take the festival for granted.
"Seventeen seems crazy," said Morgan, who also noted this year's festival will feature more films and less time to see them all. But she also said to be on the lookout for encore screenings at the festival's newest venue, the Birmingham Museum of Art.
While she said 2014's schedule flowed smoother than ever, the programmers still decided to add even more films to the mix. She anticipates complaints from fans who couldn't squeeze all the good stuff in during the weekend, but the committee just couldn't resist including so many worthy titles.
Listen to our conversation with Morgan here, or read an abbreviated version below:
How does last year's event influence this year? What did last year's festival teach you about preparing for this year's? What are some things you will or won't do as a result of how it operated in year 16?
Rachel Morgan:
Every year after the festival, we all sit down and go over what went right and wrong. In general, moving from year to year, I'd say I didn't learn any lessons because last year went really smoothly in the sense that we didn't over-program. We left a lot of time in between films. It flowed a little better. This year, we put way too many films. The time between films is really tight. I think we're going to hear a lot more people complain. I'm sort of like, "Why didn't I learn that lesson last year?" So it's more like, "What didn't you learn last year?" I guess it's a good problem to have. It means more films for everybody else.
What will be more different about how people will experience from a festival-goer perspective. Anything changing people should know about?
RM:
We try to switch things up every year, at least a little bit. This year, a lot stays the same. We added another venue, the Birmingham Museum of Art. We're going to be able to do a couple of special screenings, but mostly it's going to be an encore venue. Some films will be screened twice, which alleviates some of the issues of screenings that sell out. A lot of those are TBD slots. You can keep up with it via our social media. We also added two new categories this year: Music video and episodic. There are more parties in different venues. We have a bunch of outdoor music, and it's free, so that's cool.
Why is "Raiders!" right for opening night?
RM:
This is probably the earliest we've ever done an opening night, so that's cool. It takes a lot of consideration and a lot of work. We landed on it for opening night because rarely do you find a film that's sort of Hollywood blockbuster and really lo-fi indie film crossed over. The film sort of gained its own cult status. It's a true love letter to filmmaking in a way that's really special. We thought, "What is better than a film that celebrates Hollywood blockbusters but is really as lo-fi as it gets in terms of the story and film they're making?" It's such a cool story that has a lot of heart. It's also a story about friendship, which we thought was wonderful. It just hit all those points. You always try to do something celebratory on opening night.
What are some films you consider can't-miss opportunities for people attending and struggling to figure out their schedule for the weekend?
RM:
There are high points for everybody's interests, but if it were just up to me to give advice, I would say "Finders Keepers." It would have been my second choice for opening night. Just a stellar film. It's about a guy who goes to bid on a storage unit, gets a grill, opens it up and there's a human leg inside. Then the guy whose leg it is wants it back, and the other guy doesn't want to give it back. They go to Judge Mathis to see who gets the leg. I probably should have started out by mentioning it's a documentary. Some of the guys from the film will join us for the festival. That's a really cool film. Really funny, and it has a lot of heart.
I'm a big horror/thriller fan, so I will be at "The Invitation" on Saturday night. We have surprises in store for that screening. It has what I think people come to expect at Sidewalk on Saturday night when we do our horror/thriller screenings.
"Apartment Trouble," our closing night film, is a really funny comedy that has elements of darkness in it. Jennifer Prediger, who's in the film and co-wrote and co-directed it, will be here.
If you're looking at the schedule on Sunday morning, I tend to put a film there that has a special place in my heart. I tend to lean in the direction of melodrama. There's something about a melodrama on a Sunday morning that I think is really lovely. This year's is "Tired Moonlight." It's an amazing film. It's a lovely farewell to summer. That's one of the sleepers maybe, if you want to call it that.
What are the Alabama-centric films or events people should know about?
RM:
We always give special consideration to Alabama films. We've got "For a Few Zombies More," a local zombie film, which will be a lot of fun. The cast and crew will be in attendance. We have a ton of short films. We also have a gentleman named Jay Burleson who made a faux documentary called "Anathema Arienette" that will screen on Saturday evening. Also, some local documentaries like "Alabama The Beautiful," a portrait of different artists in Alabama.
I recently heard a local filmmaker say that Alabama might take a festival like Sidewalk for granted in ways. How would you respond to that?
RM:
I think it's a little of both. I can't tell you how many times people come up to us and say thank you for the hard work you do. I think people in Birmingham really do appreciate the festival, but I can kind of see where the sentiment is coming from. When you look at the things that we try to do for local filmmakers and the state in general, the list is pretty long. I think we're appreciated and certainly loved, but I think that there are folks who don't know about us or how to embrace Sidewalk in a way that we hope they would. If you go to some of the other big festivals, you pay $750 for a pass. With us, you get a pass for $150. With the cost, you get a lot more. It's not a complaint, by any means. The thought that if you're able to go to Sidewalk and you don't, it just seems crazy to me, not just because you don't like films. There's live music, food, all kinds of stuff.
A lot of people come from out of town to be here from all over the country, and they leave here talking about Birmingham and Alabama. They go to New York or L.A. or wherever with this experience. We're not the only reason, but Sidewalk is one of the reasons why we end up on these "Best" lists for great culture and places to live. We find that people who write those have either been to Sidewalk or have a friend who's been. It's part of what contributes to the image of the state and city. I don't know that people realize that. We all want to be proud of the place we're from. With Birmingham's past and history, that can be difficult. That's a thing that we all talk about struggling with, especially for those of us who were born here. We try to change that perspective, that first impression that people have, changing it to something positive.
Follow Sidewalk Film Festival and Ben Flanagan on Twitter.