The Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival has just announced its Spotlight Screenings, a special program of feature length narrative and documentary films that are not in competition. This year’s festival will take place September 26-28 and is located in downtown Birmingham’s historic Theatre District.
NARRATIVE FEATURE FILMS
DANCE OF THE DEAD ^ Director: Gregg Bishop ^ Dance of the Dead is an horror-adventure comedy that takes place on the night of the big Prom– the dead rise to eat the living, and the only people who can stop them are the losers who couldn’t get dates to the dance.
HUMBOLDT COUNTY ^ Director: Darren Grodsky & Danny Jacobs ^ Peter is a medical student about to graduate and begin his residency. When his professor fails him, he winds up in bed with an actress and singer named Bogart rolling through Los Angeles. He accompanies her to the northern most tip of California, where he encounters her eccentric family of pot farmers. But when Bogart runs away without a word, Peter is thrust into the picturesque and bizarre world that is Humboldt County.
LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (Låt den rätte komma in) ^ Director: Tomas Alfredson ^ Oskar, a bullied 12-year old, dreams of revenge. He falls in love with Eli, a peculiar girl. She can’t stand the sun or food and to come into a room she needs to be invited. Eli gives Oskar the strength to hit back but when he realizes that Eli needs to drink other peoples’ blood to live he’s faced with a choice. How much can love forgive? Let The Right One In is a story both violent and highly romantic, set in the Stockholm suburb of Blackeberg in 1982.
NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS ^ Director: Greta Gerwig & Joe Swanberg ^ A man and woman must face the tension that builds between them during a long-distance relationship.
POP SKULL ^ Director: Adam Wingard ^ Pop Skull depicts the lonely and disjointed life of Daniel, a young Alabama pill addict, as his efforts to cope with the trials of his day-to-day life collide with the increasing influence of murderous and displaced spirits that inhabit his home.
TIME CRIMES (Los Cronocrímenes) ^ Director: Nacho Vigalondo ^ Hector is an ordinary man who’s moving to a new house with his wife. One evening, while he’s looking through his binoculars, he sees a naked girl in the woods. He decides to go there just to find that same girl laying on a rock. Suddenly, a man with a pink bandage covering his face, stabs Hector in his arm with scissors. Then a chase starts, leading Hector to a time machine that brings him back nearly an hour in the past. The man in charge of the time machine explains to Hector (Hector 2) that he must not interfere with the other Hector (Hector 1) so he can go into the time machine again. Things complicate….
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILMS
FRONTRUNNERS ^ Director: Caroline Suh ^ It’s hard to run for office, and the campaign for student body president at Stuyvesant, perhaps the most prestigious public high school in the country, is almost as sophisticated as any presidential election. But unlike presidential candidates, they also have to do their homework, take their SATs and write their college applications. Frontrunners follows the recent elections at the country’s most competitive high school, exploring how politics works at a nascent level. As the race unfolds, it reveals that teenagers have an implicit understanding of how strategy, race, gender, personality, platforms, charisma, and hairstyle figure into a winning campaign.
JUMP! ^ Director: Helen Hood Scheer ^ Documentary about five teams of kids who push physical and psychological limits to compete in the World Jump Rope Competition. Rivalry and collaboration have dramatic, unexpected results. ^ New Addition to the Documentary Feature Competition Line-Up
ROCK-AFIRE EXPLOSION ^ Director: Brett Whitcomb ^ With the closing of Showbiz Pizza Place in the early nineties, and the subsequent removal of its animatronic rock band Rock-afire Explosion, a small but determined group of the band’s fans persisted with the hopes of reviving their fallen obsession. It wasn’t until 2007, with the resurgence of the Rock-afire Explosion on YouTube with songs like “Miss New Booty,” “Hey There Delilah,” and “Love in This Club,” that the animatronic band found its way back into the public consciousness. Chris Thrash, a car salesman from Phenix City, Alabama who recently purchased a Rock-afire Explosion, has led the charge with his inventive programming and clever song choice. ^ New Addition to the Narrative Feature Competition Line-Up
THIS BEAUTIFUL CITY ^ Director: Ed Gass-Donnelly ^ When a woman plummets from her condo balcony in Toronto’s West Queen West neighborhood, five turbulent lives collide, releasing spurts and geysers of long suppressed sexuality and aggression.
For more info, visit the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival website>>>
