2021 Sidewalk Film Festival

2021 festival poster

The 2021 Sidewalk Film Festival, held on August 23-29, 2021 was the 23rd in the annual series. Venues for screenings included the Sidewalk Cinema, Alabama School of Fine Arts, Alabama Theatre, Birmingham Museum of Art, Boutwell Auditorium, First Methodist Church and the Lyric Theatre.

Sidewalk programmed the early days of the festival into a series of nightly "themes", including an "Alabama Spotlight" on Monday, a "Life & Liberty Spotlight" on Tuesday, "Spotlight on Shout" featuring films with LGBTQ themes on Wednesday, and a "Black Lens Spotlight" on Thursday. Friday's opening night feature was "Television Event", directed by Jeff Daniels. Sunday's closing night film was "The Beta Test" co-directed by Jim Cummings and PJ McCabe. The festival also hosted 10th anniversary screenings of Steven Soderbergh's "Contagion", Jeff Krulik’s "Heavy Metal Parking Lot," and Ridley Scott’s "Thelma & Louise."

The 2021 festival marked a return to parties and cinema screenings a year after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the 2020 Sidewalk Film Festival to forego large social events and conduct screenings at the Grand River Drive-In rather than in downtown Birmingham. Ongoing community spread of COVID limited the capacity at most venues.

Festival organizers had planned to require proof of vaccination for entry in order to protect the safety of attendees, but were prevented by the Alabama Vaccine Passport Ban passed into law in May. Ultimately, the event did institute a "public health check", requiring attendees to show documentation of either a completed vaccination course or a negative COVID test no more than 48 hours old. Free rapid tests were made available through the Magic City Wellness Center.

References

• Flanagan, Ben (August 3, 2021) "Sidewalk Film Festival announces 2021 schedule." The Birmingham News
• Flanagan, Ben (August 4, 2021) "Birmingham film fest would require vaccination proof, but they are blocked by Alabama law." The Birmingham News

External links

• Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival website