Sidewalk Film Festival

Sidewalk Film Festival

We can’t wait to see you at the 26th annual Sidewalk Film Festival August 19th – 25th in Birmingham’s historic downtown theater district!

Alabama Public Television is excited to announce three of our Monograph documentary shorts were selected for the festival! Later on Sunday, we’re proud to sponsor The Torch: Stories of the Holocaust, coming to APT this fall. Check out all the films below.

Lincoln Theatre

Monograph: Lincoln Theatre

Alabama Film Spotlight Night – Alabama Shorts
Monday, August 19
Sidewalk Cinema

When actor André Holland learned the history of Bessemer’s Lincoln Theatre – and that the dilapidated building was for sale – he decided to buy it and enlist his mother, Mary, to direct its restoration. Their dreams for the theater reflect their appreciation for the community they grew up in – and hopes that the theater can serve to reconnect people through the arts.

Monograph: Roscoe Hall

Shorts: Alabama Documentary
Saturday, August 24
ASFA Recital Hall

Literally raised in the shadow of Alabama BBQ institution, Dreamland, Roscoe Hall set out to travel the country and learn from the best chefs in the best restaurants – all while honing his artistic vision. Returning to Alabama in the 2000’s, Roscoe dug into his Alabama roots and his own history to create paintings now featured in galleries around the world.

Roscoe Hall
Charles Smith

Monograph: Charles Smith

Shorts: Alabama Documentary
Saturday, August 24
ASFA Recital Hall

Charles Smith has a lot to say. His Afrocentric sculptures and art help tell the real story of Alabama’s Gulf Coast, going back centuries to honor the ghosts of the past. A ceramic artist from Mobile, AL, Smith creates, according to Mobile Bay Magazine, “meticulous Afrocentric and ceremonial vessels.” After returning from Vietnam with resentment and post-traumatic stress disorder, he threw himself into clay, a strange direction for him in the eyes of his family at the time. Today, Smith is known for his distinct hand-carved pots, ceremonial wall hangings and sculptures, among others.

The Torch: Stories of the Holocaust shared by Alabama Families

Feature Documentary
Sunday, August 25
Birmingham Museum of Art

The Torch features four Alabama Holocaust survivors and their family members. Together, they tell their stories. In the end, the viewers will have watched survivors, sons/daughters, and an expert who have become torches and ultimately the viewer becomes one as well – carrying on those stories.