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This is the scene outside the Alabama Theatre on the opening night of the 2014 Sidewalk Film Festival on Aug. 22, 2014. (Tamika Moore/tmoore@al.com)

Oscar night is almost upon us, but Birmingham's Sidewalk Film Festival has already been awarded a big prize from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Foundation.

The Academy recently awarded the Sidewalk festival a $10,000 grant as part of its Film Festivals Grant Program.

The grant, one of 10 awarded by the Academy to film festivals in 2015, was given in support of Sidewalk's Shout LGBTQ Film Focus.

"We are thrilled to be recognized by the Academy and to be part of a select group of film festivals across the U.S. receiving grant funding this year," Chloe Collins, Sidewalk's executive director, said in a media release. "Support from the Academy for the Shout Film Focus will most certainly help us grow our audience while continuing to bring talented filmmakers together, regardless of sexuality or gender."

The Shout Film Focus, which has been associated with the three-day Sidewalk Film Festival for the past nine years, showcases feature-length and short-form narrative and documentary films on topics of interest to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.

The $10,000 Academy grant will be used to support call-for-entries marketing, screening fees, filmmaker travel and lodging expenses, program and support materials creation, film exhibition and staffing, according to the Sidewalk release.

The Film Festival Grants program has awarded more than $5.7 million to film festivals since 1999. Film festivals are encouraged to submit proposals that make festival events more accessible to the general public, provide greater access to minority and less visible filmmakers, and help strengthen the connection between filmmakers and the public.

The Sidewalk Film Festival, which made its debut in 1999, will celebrate its 17th year in August.

The 87th Academy Awards air at 7:30 p.m. CST Sunday on ABC.