The 10th annual Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival, a celebration of new independent cinema in downtown Birmingham, is set to take place September 26-28. Since its debut in 1999, filmmakers from across the country and around the world have come to Birmingham to screen their work at Sidewalk and have been thrilled to discover fresh, enthusiastic crowds eager to devour new independent cinema.     ENTRY FEES & DEADLINES: (Submissions must be postmarked by the deadline date.) Early Bird Discount Regular Deadine Late Deadline APRIL 1 MAY 1 JUNE 1 Over 45 min. $45 $50 $60 45 min. and under $30 $35 $40 Special discounts for Sidewalk Members, Students with valid ID, and for films produced in the State of Alabama. Teenage filmmakers, age 18 years and younger, may submit their work to the Teen Filmmaker sidebar with no entry fee. Work submitted to this category is considered solely for this category, and must be the sole creation of the teenager(s) submitting the work. Eligible works must have been completed after January 1, 2006 and, aside from other Sidewalk screenings, must not have been publicly exhibited in the Greater Birmingham Metropolitan Area prior to the 2008 festival dates. Work accepted to screen at the festival will be categorized in competitive and non-competitive categories at the sole discretion of Sidewalk. If a film is accepted, entrant agrees to ship exhibition materials to the festival at their own expense, to arrive at the Sidewalk office by Friday, September 12, 2008. Sidewalk can only provide return shipping via ground delivery within the United States. Final programming decisions will be announced on or before Monday, August 18, 2008. Entry fees are non-refundable, and submission does not guarantee that the entry will be accepted to the festival for a screening. AWARD PRIZES include: $1,000 for Best Feature $1,000 for Best Documentary $1,000 for Best Short $500 for Best Animated Film Kathryn Tucker Windham Storytelling Award Audience Choice Awards Alabama Citations of Excellence (ACE Awards) Handcrafted cast-iron award sculptures designed by resident artists of Birmingham's historic Sloss Furnaces. Click on the withoutabox logo to submit your film for the  2008 Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival   Click below to download an Entry Form, if you'd rather not submit online.  [PDF: 68.2 KB, 3 pages]

WORD ON THE SIDEWALK...

BEST KEPT SECRET in MovieMaker magazine

One of TIME Magazine’s “Film Festivals for the Rest of Us”

One of Chris Gore's BEST VACATION FILM FESTIVALS in the Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide.

One of 20 FILM FESTIVALS WORTH THE ENTRY FEE in MovieMaker magazine.

“It has all the charm of a regional festival yet the programming quality and significance of a major global festival.” 
Steve Montal, Juror

“We’ve had a tremendous amount of opportunity to network with other filmmakers, which is really cool.” 
Sean Tracy, THE JESUS GUY

"I've never been to a film festival that made me feel so sad to go home. I honestly felt as if I was returning home from summer camp and leaving all my new best friends behind. So to evoke such strong feelings you all must be doing something right and it sheds much truth on the term "southern hospitality" which Sidewalk Moving Pictures Festival has so genuinely perfected!"
Jason Connell, STRICTLY BACKGROUND

“You start to get to know about the festivals that treat filmmakers well and the ones that don’t, and Sidewalk is one of the names that always came up as far as being great to filmmakers.” 
Joe Swanberg, HANNAH TAKES THE STAIRS

“Sidewalk is totally different from all the other film festivals that I have been to. The people are so gracious and it’s so well organized.”
Caren Cross, LOST & FOUND IN MEXICO

“It’s kind of nice to come out to a festival like sidewalk that makes a fuss over the filmmakers and I guess, for our own vanity, just feel like big shots for the weekend.” 
Chris Bowman, AMERICAN FORK

“Sidewalk has done such a good job of educating the city and the audience in independent films.” 
Barlow Jacobs, LOW AND BEHOLD

“It draws really dedicated filmgoers that are interested in looking outside of traditional big box movies.” 
Ashley Sabin, KAMP KATRINA

“They have a really great staff and the programming committee is really sharp; they have a really good selection of films.” 
Alex Orr, BLOOD CAR

“It’s an energy of filmmakers and it’s not about the star, it’s not about glamour. It’s really a filmmaker’s festival.” 
Steve Montal, Juror

"This is how film festivals should be." 
Peter Gilbert, HOOP DREAMS / Juror

"I have to say this is one of the most fun festivals I've been to." 
Dan Myrick, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT / Juror

"This really has been the perfect festival." 
Eric Campos, FilmThreat.com / Juror

"Seriously, you guys have some magic going on down there, and I will encourage everyone I know to check it out." 
Jay Duplass, THE PUFFY CHAIR

"I really think you guys just might have discovered the perfect ingredients for a film festival... Hospitality, organization, local flavor, no attitude, really good food and great films! Wow-- what a blast!" 
Don Bernier, IN A NUTSHELL

"Often film festivals can actually be a lonely place for a filmmaker because you just don't know anyone, and sometimes they're all spread out and you don't have a car and you can barely get anywhere, and there aren't enough events set up for you to keep you busy or meet your fellow filmmakers and my goodness, Sidewalk just blew all that to the Cosmos! It was so friendly and fun and low key. I just felt astonishingly well taken care of."  
Alison Bagnall, PIGGIE / Juror

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Visit sidewalkfilm.org for details on Sidewalk's other programs, including the Sidewalk Salon, Sidewalk Scramble, SideWrite, and the Teen Filmmaking Challenge.