USA • 1 hour 33 minutes Directed by Rachel Feldman
When Lilly Ledbetter discovered that she was being paid much less than male co-workers doing the same job at the Goodyear plant in Gadsden, Alabama, she sued, taking the case all the way to to the US Supreme Court. Patricia Clarkson portrays Lilly in this 2024 film, showing the personal risks and emotional costs of that fight.
Tara Hulen - Screening Committee
Joining us for a post-screening Q&A will be: Vickie Saxon, Jon Goldfarb, Lanier Isom. Moderated by Katie Rogers.
USA • 1 hour 33 minutes Directed by Rachel Feldman
When Lilly Ledbetter discovered that she was being paid much less than male co-workers doing the same job at the Goodyear plant in Gadsden, Alabama, she sued, taking the case all the way to to the US Supreme Court. Patricia Clarkson portrays Lilly in this 2024 film, showing the personal risks and emotional costs of that fight.
Tara Hulen - Screening Committee
Joining us for a post-screening Q&A will be: Vickie Saxon, Jon Goldfarb, Lanier Isom. Moderated by Katie Rogers.
A remarkable story of an Appalachian community. A Woman's Work shares the natural beauty of the region while focusing on the hard-working people and their daily struggles. A stirring portrayal of a female coal miner working to support her sisters while dreaming of a life with her secret girlfriend. This film truly makes you feel for these characters and the beauty and sadness of their daily lives.
A remarkable story of an Appalachian community. A Woman's Work shares the natural beauty of the region while focusing on the hard-working people and their daily struggles. A stirring portrayal of a female coal miner working to support her sisters while dreaming of a life with her secret girlfriend. This film truly makes you feel for these characters and the beauty and sadness of their daily lives.
POL • 1 hour 29 minutes Directed by Bartosz Szpak and Helena Ganjalyan
Filled with stunning, sun-soaked cinematography and big questions about what it means to be a girl in the world, GLORIOUS SUMMER conjures an atmosphere of curious serenity—a series of perpetually peaceful summer days in which three young girls live, play, and commune in a crumbling idyll. Amid this visual poetry, however, tensions surface.
In this directorial debut from Jess Zeidman, we watch people living in New York City, walking with them through their day-to-day interactions. Human Theories immerses us in the colorful tapestry of the city while enticing us to reflect on our own relationships and explore how far-reaching our connections could be with passing strangers.
The General USA • 1 hour 18 minutes Directed by Buster Keaton
Honoring the Centennial of “The General” and the heritage of independent film, the Alabama Chapter of the American Theatre Society along with Sidewalk Film Festival presents a celebratory screening of what is considered Keaton’s greatest film. Presented with Live Organ Accompaniment with original score by Tom Helms, the film is presented much as it would have been in 1926 with the Alabama Theatre’s Mighty Wurlitzer.
Hot Water USA • 20 minutes Directed by Harold Lloyd
An average guy struggling with marriage, his bossy mother-in-law, and meddling brothers-in-law.
Director Alice Voena’s mumblecore feature is a luscious journey through the mind of a queer cult leader consumed by psychedelic visions of a prophesied doomsday. Told in a series of poetic monologues narrated by Rowen Amadeus Camor (Alice Voena) and a hallucinated deity named Promise (John Cameron Mitchell), Rowen searches for meaning and identity as the revelation approaches.
WARLA is a crime-drama based on the true story of the Warla Gang, a group of transgender women who kidnap foreigners for ransom money to fund their gender-affirming surgeries. The film examines the struggles and treatment of marginalized individuals searching for acceptance.
Aike is a 17 year old boy from the Netherlands who builds a nuclear reactor in his shed. I guess you could call him Aikenheimer! Nuclear Boy is a charming, quirky, beautifully shot coming of age film with an eerie musical score about a precocious teen trying to find their place in the world.
USA • 1 hour 58 minutes Directed by Dallas Richard Hallam
Set in a town that could be anywhere, USA, “Interaction” follows a woman who works as an independent housekeeper. In addition to cleaning houses, she has a passion for spying on her clients, eventually coming in contact with someone who is equally as depraved as her. Directed by Dallas Richard Hallam, who grew up in Birmingham, “Interaction" is a very well made psychological suspense horror film that you will not forget, for better or for worse.
TVs of Terror RETURNS to Sidewalk Film Festival with a wild lost video store artifact - DEMONWARP! A group of teens embark on what’s supposed to be a cozy woodland retreat, but after being warned off by an unsettling local, they’re besieged by a bloodthirsty Sasquatch. And it only gets weirder from there! Buckle up for the ride of the summer (of 1988) as Sidewalk and TVs of Terror join forces for a truly nutty night at the movies!
A car crash turns one man's night of clubbing into a claustrophobic fight to stay alive. Alone in the wreckage, injured and trapped, he has to outlast the elements, the dark, and whatever’s watching just outside the light, raising the question of who's really game.
USA • 1 hour 17 minutes Directed by Ebony Blanding
Siblings who’ve drifted apart are brought together in an effort to prevent the eviction of their mother from their family home due to her obsessive hoarding. As they deal with the physical mess, they are forced to confront their own issues on a journey of reconciliation and healing.
After the Ponderosa buffet closes, an older regular, George (Bill Camp), tries to become a surrogate father figure to Zeke, the aimless son of a single mother who works at the restaurant. As Zeke searches for a sense of self against a backdrop of generational expectations and half-formed ideological notions of masculinity, George is drawn into his own distorted attempt at self-recognition.
Filmed right here in Birmingham, Last Shot follows 12-year-old basketball player Caden Isaacs as he navigates an unexpected and sudden tragedy. Forced to move to a different city to live with his previously absent, workaholic mother, Caden learns that his actions have consequences as he tries to fit in with a new basketball team while Lexi juggles family and work responsibilities.
An older man with dementia befriends a grieving young woman as their lives intersect in unexpected ways. While both are overwhelmed with relationships past and present, their lives in upstate New York reflect each others’ struggles with loss, ennui, and acceptance. Through the hypnotic visual texture found in Video8 footage and starring members of his own family, this ambient meditation on life and its universal anxieties sees director Aidan Cronin arriving at his debut feature with an original filmmaking language all his own.
USA • 1 hour 35 minutes Directed by Russell Goldman
Julia grapples with her wavering sobriety and unemployment when the first unordered package arrives. It’s her lipstick – which she knows she didn’t order – in the package that marks the start of the mysterious deliveries that bombard her new rental home. In her hyperfixated search for the sender, Julia spirals in and out of her paranoia.
PRT • 1 hour 20 minutes Directed by Vicente Alves do Ó
The prismatic colors of Portugal in 1982 contrast the tensions that are the pulse of this film. 10-year-old Vasco is caught between childhood's wonders and adulthood's miseries. His mother is struggling to stay afloat, social pressures keep him from knowing his father, and he simply wants to understand it all.
USA • 1 hour 37 minutes Directed by Micah Van Hove
In the outskirts of the Amazon, Chino spends his days hunting down anacondas. When an American journalist hires him for a mysterious job, his life on the river goes downstream.
USA • 1 hour 30 minutes Directed by Doron Max Hagay
Meaningful story about self discovery and learning to stand up for yourself. It also explores the complexity of friendships, especially questioning if they are genuine. The ending is thought provoking and leaves you wondering if Michelle finally recognizes the truth about her so-called friendship with Kelly.
AUS • 1 hour 30 minutes Directed by Mia'Kate Russell
Set in the sweltering Australian summer of 1986, Mia’Kate Russell’s survival thriller debut feature follows Penny and her best friends celebrating university acceptance at a remote beach house. The ‘no dick event’ spirals into a blood-soaked nightmare when an uninvited cousin, Kat, and a crew of dangerous men crash the party.
In a remote desert town called Moon Crest, Cliff, a young man struggling with his love life, takes an unexpected turn when he encounters his estranged birth mother, whose hidden past draws him into an unexpected adventure, challenging his hopes for connection, identity, and love.
Embie, an aspiring concert photographer, embarks on a tour with an intergalactic band that challenges his own perceptions of success and responsibility. An animated micro-feature five years in the making, Trevor Mastro has independently crafted and produced a personal, one-of-a-kind psychedelic experience (with an excellent soundtrack) that you are unlikely to forget.
