By Emily Williams
Journal Intern
A Mountain Brook native will join the ranks of budding filmmakers and critically-acclaimed directors showing their work at this year’s Sidewalk Film Festival.
The premiere of Kyle Sawyer’s short animation film, “Sidewalk Laugh Flicks,” will premiere at the 16th annual festival in downtown Birmingham this weekend.
The Sidewalk Film Festival launched in 1999 as a way to celebrate and encourage independent filmmaking in Birmingham and across the state.
The three-day event will showcase films in eight different venues in the downtown area–including Sawyer’s first-ever entry in the film festival.
“Not only is it cool that my short (film) is being screened at festival like Sidewalk but I can’t wait for my friends and family to see my work,” he said.
The 2012 Mountain Brook High School graduate and current business major at Rollins College in Orlando, Fla. said it took him a month to film and edit his film, which consists of 1,400 frames.
The film is “a traditional animated short created through the ‘lightening sketch’ technique,” which Sawyer said involves “a hand holding a pen on screen and (drawing) a cartoon in a sped-up manner.”
“I couldn’t actually fit my hand under the camera, so I took a picture of my hand holding a pen and re-photographed that photograph so that on the screen, there is an illusion of my hand doing the sketching,” he said.
Not only is Sawyer handy with a pen and sketchpad–and a camera–his artistic interests and experiences range from live theatre to literature.
Sawyer said his love of the arts started at a young age.
For a few years when he was younger, Sawyer performed with the Red Mountain Theatre Company, an experience that he said made him realize that he “loved the thrill of performing in front of an audience.”
But as he got older, Sawyer did not want to be in the spotlight as much but nevertheless, still wanted to be involved in creative pursuits.
“That’s when I became interested in the behind-the-scenes aspects of all of it and spent my free time watching movies with my family and writing short stories,” he said.
Sawyer said he had always recognized the artistry in animation but one day, something clicked and he couldn’t get enough of the art form.
“I had always thought animation was a special kind of art form,” he said. “One day, I just became so intrigued by it all, I started to research and devour any information I could find on the subject.”
Sawyer said his favorite animators are Walt Disney and John Lasseter, the creator of “Toy Story.”
“I have so much respect for traditional animators because their attention and dedication to detail is so crucial to making the final product look totally clean and in-sync,” he said.
Sawyer said after earning his business degree from Rollins College, he would like to take the next step in his animation fascination.
“Ideally, I’d like to go to film school and get my MFA (master’s of fine arts degree) in directing but we’ll see what happens,” he said.
And while he is happy at his early success in landing a spot in the Sidewalk Film Festival, Sawyer said he knows that he will have to pay his dues as a young filmmaker.
“I’d honestly be happy getting a job at any studio and doing anything I can to be a part of the production process and work my way up,” he said.
But no matter the medium he ends up working in, Sawyer said his ultimate goal is to make a living in the arts.
“My dream is to have a job doing something I love,” he said. “Whether that’s animating, directing or writing. I just want to be a storyteller.”
The young storyteller’s short animated tale will premiere at the Sidewalk Film Festival’s Animated and International Shorts Film Block, which runs from 6:15-8:15 p.m. on Aug. 23 at the Black Box Theatre on the campus of the Alabama School of Fine Arts at 1800 Reverend Abraham Woods Jr. Boulevard.
For ticketing information and a full schedule of Sidewalk Film Festival events, visit www.sidewalkfest.com.
The 16th annual Sidewalk Film Festival will kick off this week in eight different venues in the downtown Birmingham theater district.
Here’s a look at some of the highlights of this year’s event:
Opening Night
“All American High Revisited”
Aug. 22, 8 p.m.
Alabama Theatre
A documentary that captures a year in the life of a California high school in 1984, “All American High Revisted,” will kick off this year’s Sidewalk Film Festival at 8 p.m. at the Alabama Theatre. Opening night passes are $25 each and include admission to the screening of the documentary and a Third Avenue North block party featuring a low-country boil and music from The Cleverlys.
Family Film Festival
Kids/Family/Teen Shorts
Aug. 23, 10:30 a.m.-4:45 p.m.
McWane’s Rushton Theatre
All children get in free for the family-friendly films that will be shown in the Rushton Theatre at the McWane Science Center downtown. “Makin’ Wookiee” will show at 10:30 a.m., followed by Shorts for Kids and By Kids part one at 12:30 p.m. and Shorts for Kids By Kids part two at 2:45 p.m.
Family short films will be shown starting at 4:45 p.m. at the McWane Science Center.
On Aug. 24, “Summer’s Shadows” will be shown at Rushton Theatre at 10:30 a.m. and will be following by a screening of “Nocturna” at 1 p.m.
The teen short films will be shown at McWane starting at 3:40 p.m. on Aug. 24.
Closing Night
“Wild Canaries”
Aug. 24, 6:40 p.m.
Alabama Theatre
A fresh comedic take on classic film noir, “Wild Canaries” will wrap up this year’s Sidewalk Film Festival with a screening starting at 6:40 p.m. at the Alabama Theatre. The film by writer-director Lawrence Michael Levine features Jason Ritter, Kevin Corrigan and Annie Parisee.
For the full schedule and information on the films that will be shown at the 2014 Sidewalk Film Festival, visit www.sidewalkfest.com.