Eight short films produced by 15 UAB students will be screened at the 12th annual Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival's Digital City venue at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 25, 2010, in the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, 520 16th St. South. The students created the films as part of an ethnographic filmmaking course offered through UAB's Digital Community Studies Program. All of the films are eight to 10 minutes long. For ticket information, visit the website at www.sidewalkfest.com.
The UAB student films are:
"Music and Dance: M.A.D. Skillz," by Dawn Coleman of Mason City and Caitlin Chandler of Pinson, is a film about a nationally award-winning hip-hop dance troupe that also mentors young people.
"Our Daily Bread: Food Insecurity in Birmingham," by Trae Crain of Clay-Chalkville and Colin Albea of Homewood, examines the Greater Birmingham Ministries' efforts to feed the poor.
"Invisible Goals," by Alex Lanier of Madison and Erin Hennessy of Hoover, is a portrait of the Lakeshore Foundation's goalball team. Goalball is a sport for the visually impaired.
"Extraordinary Actors Who Happen to Be," by Sarah Johnson and Alyssa Mitchell, both of Huntsville, tells the story of an after-school theatre program at the Alys Stephens Center that addresses the lack of arts funding in public schools.
"Honest Work," by Brittney Jones of Montgomery and Mallory Messersmith of Cullman, is a portrait of the workers most never see at UAB - those who clean offices and work spaces. "We Wanna Play: Inner City Lacrosse," by Eddie Lewis of Montgomery, is the story of Alabama's only African-American lacrosse team.
"The Secret Life of Beekeepers," by Rebecca Marston of Mobile and Kyle Henderson of Bremen, is a film about Birmingham area beekeepers.
"We: West End Community Garden," by Anna McCown of Springville and Lindsay Whiteaker of Huntsville, is about the collective effort of several local charitable organizations to provide healthy foods to residents in a low-income Birmingham community.