By Kaitlin Candelaira
Michele Forman never thought she’d move back to Birmingham.
After leaving Mountain Brook to attend Harvard and falling in love with film studies, she never imagined that she’d be able to pursue her dreams of being a documentary filmmaker in the Magic City.
“I’ve always loved visual arts and literature, and in college I had the opportunity to start learning how films are made and it’s truly both of those things,” Forman said. “It’s the best of visual arts and the best of storytelling. I never thought I’d be able to come back to Birmingham and work in my area.”
Forman met Spike Lee during her time at Harvard. He taught her screen writing class. After college, she found herself working alongside him in New York at his film-making company.
“It was really the film ‘Four Little Girls’ that brought me back,” Forman said. “I was the associate producer for the film and it re-introduced me to Birmingham and for the first time, I saw it in a professional light.”
Around this time, Forman said, Birmingham was beginning to change.
“The changes we’re seeing now are really the result of the labor of so many people for decades,” Forman said. “Eric Jambor and Wayne and Kelly Franklin worked together in commercial video production and all three knew that there were films out there but they weren’t coming to Birmingham, so they had the idea to bring a film festival to town.”
As the trio organized the first meetings for what would become the Sidewalk Film Festival, they reached out to Forman, who in turn solidified her decision to return to her hometown.
“That was really instrumental to my return to Birmingham,” Forman said. “I began to see so many committed people around the city doing such innovative and creative things.”
Now in its 17th year, the festival is nationally recognized. It has been named one of the 10 best movie festivals in the country by both USA Today and Time magazine. However, there were some hurdles in the beginning.
“I think it brings really high-quality, wonderful films to Birmingham and to our community that ordinarily wouldn’t play here,” Forman said. “In the beginning, we had to go and convince filmmakers to come because they didn’t think it was really worth their time. We’d go to film festivals and really evangelize Birmingham. Now, it’s a movie destination and it really puts Birmingham on the map.”
Forman credits the festival for bringing major thought leaders and media leaders into the city.
“We thought the mission was to bring film to Birmingham and of course that’s what we do, but the secondary impact is that we’re spreading the word about how great Birmingham is,” Forman said. “These people are returning to London and New York and LA and they have an experience of Alabama that’s very different and that counteracts a lot of stereotypes the rest of the world holds about us.”
Birmingham is a great place for a film festival because of the traditions here as well, she said.
“In terms of the stories, we are great storytellers here in the South,” Forman said. “I think the richness of the storytellers shows on screen. The people and stories here are so compelling.”
Forman now serves as the chairman of the board for the festival. This year’s Sidewalk Film Festival will take place Aug. 28-30. Tickets are available for purchase at www.sidewalkfest.com.
