Sidewalk 2009: The Best of the Fest
By Glenny Brock
The 11th annual Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival, a celebration of new independent cinema, is set to take place Sept. 25-27 in downtown Birmingham. Since the festival’s debut in 1999, filmmakers from across the country and around the world have come to Birmingham to screen their work at Sidewalk and have been thrilled to discover fresh, enthusiastic crowds eager to devour new independent cinema.
With nine venues located within Birmingham’s historic Theatre District (featuring the newly restored Alabama Theatre, a 2,200 seat movie palace built by Paramount in 1927), spontaneity and variety rule at Sidewalk. Low-priced weekend passes provide easy access to Sidewalk venues, encouraging attendees to seek out new films and sample programming they may not otherwise see. The result is a crowd rich in diversity and united in a hunger for new film.
Below are links to reviews of a few films that Birmingham Weekly staffers got to see in advance. For more details on the complete schedule, visit www.sidewalkfest.com.
