Birmingham

Must-See Movies at Sidewalk Film Festival 2017

my gear from Sidewalk Fest 2016

 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — good writers read good writing. But I believe good writers watch good writing too, good writing that comes in the form of good movies. And that’s why every year you’ll find me at the Sidewalk Film Festival. If you’re in the Birmingham area, I hope to see you at this weekend’s festival, August 25-27.

There are always so many films showing at Sidewalk that sometimes I feel overwhelmed when trying to decide which films I’m going to see.

Fortunately, I have a pal to help me out.  One of my colleagues at the Alabama School of Fine Arts is also a features programmer for the festival. Corey Craft has written about film since 2009, for five years as the primary film writer for The Tuscaloosa News and now exclusively for the upstart arts and entertainment website artsBHAM.com. He also teaches a history of film class at ASFA and has a degree in telecommunications and film with an emphasis in critical studies from the University of Alabama. So he knows his stuff.

I had a chat with him about the best movies to catch this weekend.

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WBHM brings live broadcast of NPR’s Weekend Edition with Scott Simon to Birmingham

WBHM 90.3 FM, Birmingham’s public radio station, brought NPR’s Scott Simon to the Lyric Theatre on Saturday, June 10, for a live broadcast of Weekend Edition.

Fans rose early Saturday morning to get through the door and in their seats by 6:30 a.m. in time for the start of the 7 a.m. broadcast. The Lyric Theater was transformed into a makeshift, yet magnificent radio studio with the Weekend Edition’s production crew and their equipment set up in front of the stage. Simon was front and center on stage with a few stools for the special guests scheduled to come for the live segments.  

“We’re not fancy here,” WBHM General Manager Chuck Holmes confessed. “You’re getting to see behind the curtain.”

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