Sidewalk 2006

I spent my weekend screening films at the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival in Birmingham. The festival attracts filmmakers from around the world. John Sayles was on hand to receive a special award, and to hold a symposium during the weekend. He’s going to use actors from Alabama’s theater community for his next film. Guess that blows the idea that nothing special happens here, huh?

My fiancé and I attended the opening night film, The Sasquatch Dumpling Gang. Most of the creative team on this film previously worked on Napoleon Dynamite, including the writer/director Tim Skousen. Similar in style to Napoleon, this film is about a gang of kids who believe they found the footprints of Bigfoot. Juxtaposing this storyline, a mullet head neighbor is trying to save his Pontiac Firebird from creditors. About 1600 people attending the screening, and it was well received. The most striking element in this film is segmented the film into chapters and how each chapter took the perspective of a different character. As a result, the movie appeared to go backwards in order to go forward.

The next day, we saw a slew of film shorts. The shorts were striking, but also uneven. Some films were strong cinematically and weak on character/story/structure. Others had the opposite problem. However, what struck me the most was how some films were stage plays in disguise. They were either dialogue-heavy or the pacing and location made them better for the stage than for the cinema.

For full-length documentaries, my fiancé and I agreed that Jam was the best film. Directed by Mark Woollen, Jam tells the story of the American Roller Derby League as they try to recapture the glory days of the past. The people in the film allowed Woollen access to their personal and professional lives. As a result, you watch League Founder Tim Patten deal with the death of his lover from AIDS, along with his own battle with health problems. The story of group ambition, and how people block each other from succeeding, was both moving and strangely humorous at the same time. Are there similarities between Roller Derby and theater? Hmmmm…

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Cake Walk Festival, which played near the Alabama Theater. A free movie festival, it featured international films. We saw Sugarcubes & Chocolate, from Czech filmmaker Ji_ Boudnk. Sugarcubes is a ten-minute documentary about the 60th anniversary of Western Bohemia from the Nazis. He interviewed Czech citizens and American soldiers as they reenacted the liberation.

Tomorrow, I’ll discuss a very special film and post pictures along with it. And of course, we’ll resume a few other hanging subjects. Until then, enjoy the day.

Comments

[P'tit Boo]

Love John Sayles ...
have you seen casa de los babys.
i love that movie !

[Laura]

No, I haven't. :( I wrote film off when I decided to do theater. A very bad decision on my part, since now I have so much catching up to do.