Since 1999, filmmakers from across the country and around the world have come to Birmingham to screen their work at Sidewalk. MAKE MOVIE MAGIC, a campaign to fund the Sidewalk Film Center and Cinema is well underway to create a permanent home for this innovative and important piece of Birmingham’s cultural puzzle.

Located in the Pizitz Building, the Sidewalk Cinema will have an attached parking garage, access to the Pizitz Food Hall and a swank lounge. Dinner and a movie downtown, anyone?

A milestone reached!

$3 million dollars has been raised toward the $4.9 million campaign goal. The funds will cover the costs of architecture and design, construction, start-up capital and professional fees.

Why is this an important undertaking? Sidewalk has an audience reach of over 14,000 people, with an annual economic impact on Birmingham of $1.4 million.

And…film is an important art form, maybe the most fun and relevant today. Movies are a shared experience that can grab us by the throat, holding on until the credits roll. Movies take us to new places we never dreamed of, or reveal truths we’ve never considered about the place we’ve inhabited all along.

Coming together to support Birmingham

The sponsors, benefactors, and partners are the corporations and citizens who have been the pillars of Birmingham. Many others have joined them; companies and brands we all know, along with creative start-ups and innovators, all invested in the continued evolution and progress Birmingham is enjoying.

“Sidewalk is about more than film—it is about community, diversity, and pride of place,” says Executive Director Chloe Cook.

No real home…until now

Sidewalk Film Festival has celebrated independent film annually during the last weekend of August. For almost 20 years multiple venues located in Birmingham’s historic theatre district have hosted this festival.

Now with a permanent home in the Pizitz Building, in downtown Birmingham, Sidewalk Film Center and Cinema will offer year-round screenings, celebrations, educational outreach and filmmaking opportunities.

The plans are ambitious and exciting: multiple theaters, a flexible education space, a lounge and up-scale concessions.

Sidewalk Film Festival receives national attention

Every year Movie Maker magazine reviews film festivals around the WORLD. Yes, our Sidewalk Film Festival has been recognized as one of “The 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World.” The panelists are esteemed writers, producers and influential filmmakers.

“I’ve developed a good little crush on Birmingham, thanks to Sidewalk,” said a panelist. “It’s a dynamic city emerging as one of the capitals of the new South—“

Imagine what a permanent home for Sidewalk Film Center and Cinema, right below the Pizitz Food Hall, will mean to independent filmmakers and Birmingham area audiences. Dinner and a movie downtown will be an option again!

Photo: www.birminghamal.org

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