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Lights, camera, action! Sidewalk Film Festival, one of Birmingham’s biggest annual celebrations, is back August 24-30, 2026, bringing 200+ films, filmmaker Q&As, workshops, block parties and more to downtown Birmingham.
From opening night showings to Alabama-made films, here’s what you need to know before Sidewalk 2026 festival week kicks off.
What is Sidewalk Film Festival?
Founded in 1999, Sidewalk Film Festival is one of the Southeast’s premier showcases for independent cinema. Each August, thousands of film fans come to downtown Birmingham to discover new movies, meet filmmakers and experience screenings in some of the city’s most iconic historic venues.
This year’s festival features hundreds of screenings, filmmaker Q&A’s, panels, workshops and parties spread across 13 venues in Birmingham’s Historic Theatre District:
- Alabama School of Fine Arts (ASFA)
- Alabama Theatre
- Birmingham Museum of Art
- Carver Theatre
- First Church Birmingham
- Lyric Theatre
- Sidewalk Cinema
- Kress Ballroom
- McWane’s Rushton Theater
- Main Box Office + VIP Pass Pick-up (The Gallery at the Pizitz)
- VIP Lounge (Kress rooftop)
- Lakeview Marina
- Golden Age Wine Garden
Ticket packages to the 2026 Sidewalk Film Festival include:
- The Festival VIP Pass provides top-tier access to the Festival, including access to Festival parties, first (or early) access to all weekend films, the VIP Lounge + more special perks throughout the weekend.
- The Weekend Pass includes access to all Festival weekend films + the Opening Night After Party
- The Day Pass provides access to all films on your chosen day of the Festival (Saturday or Sunday)
For guests interested in select films, Sidewalk Film Festival offers General Admission and Premium Single Tickets, which can only be bought during Festival weekend at Festival box offices.
Note: Get your passes early! Pass prices will increase on August 1st and August 24th, 2026.
What movies are playing at Sidewalk Film Festival this year?
Grab your Festival Pass and a bag of popcorn—the 28th annual Sidewalk Film Festival is filled with 200+ films spanning virtually every genre, from compelling documentaries and dramas to horror, comedy, animations and family-friendly favorites.
While screenings begin on Monday, August 24, 2026, Festival Weekend kicks off with the Opening Night premiere (sponsored by Gilead Sciences) of John Wilson’s The History of Concrete—a humorous, Hallmark-style documentary about the building material—followed by the fan-favorite Opening Night After Party.
In addition to the Opening Night premiere, this year’s feature films include:
- Mess of Memories — Ebony Blanding
- A Woman’s Work — A.R. Ephraim
- Adam’s Apple — Amy Jenkins
- Admission Possible — Bowie Alexander and Matthew Syrett
- All Rivers Spill Their Stories to the Sea — Jeanie Finlay
- Amazing Live Sea Monkeys — Aaron Schock and Mark Becker
- The Ark — Viacheslav Rakovskyi and Jeremy Chilnick
- As Goes the South — Brian “B+” Cross and Eric Coleman
- The Best Summer — Tamra Davis
- Beyond the Vote — Marshall “P” Pollard
- Birmingham’s Front Lawn — Michele Forman
- The Birds Tell Me All There is to Know — Aidan Cronin
- Black Zombie — Maya Annik Bedward
- Bob and David Climb Machu Picchu — Michael LaHaie
- The Bulldogs — Noah Dixon and Ori Segev
- Clovers — Jacob Hatley and Tom Vickers
- Clutch Gang — Daniel Jarvis and John Kassab
- Cocoon — One Summer of Girlhood — Yukimitsu Ina
- Crime & Parody — Will Thwaites
- Demonwarp — Emmett Alston
- Don’t Come Upstairs — Mike Lobel
- Earth to Michael — Nico Lopez-Alegría and ZZ
- Echoes of the Forks of Cypress — Frederick DeShon Murphy
- Fork in the Road — Jonathan Nastasi and Vivian Sorenson
- Frogtown — Costa Karalis
- Game — John Minton
- The General: 100th Anniversary (with Live Score) — Buster Keaton
- Ghost in the Machine — Valerie Veatch
- Glorious Summer — Bartosz Szpak and Helena Ganjalyan
- The Happiest Day of My Life (O Dia Mais Feliz da Minha Vida) — Vicente Alves do Ó
- Heaven Above Rowen — Alice Voena
- Human Theories — Jess Zeidman
- Hunky Jesus — Jennifer Kroot
- I Got Bombed at Harvey’s — Amy Bandlien Storkel and Bryan Storkel
- In Love, In Memory — Shalon Buskirk and Drew Swedberg
- INTERACTION — Dallas Richard Hallam
- Jaripeo — Efraín Mojica and Rebecca Zweig
- Joybubbles — Rachael J Morrison
- Kikuyu Land — Andrew H. Brown and Bea Wangondu
- The Last Picture Shows — Rustin Thompson
- Last Shot — Andy Palmer
- Latin Clowns Evolution — Jacob Koestler and Michael McDermit
- Leaving Angola — Andrew Kukura
- Lilly — Rachel Feldman
- Lunar Sway — Nick Butler
- Moonchild: The Life and Music of Yusuf Salim
- Nuclear Boy — Joren Molter
- Our Body Electric — Dana Reilly
- Penny Lane is Dead — Mia’Kate Russell
- Pigeon Religion — Troy Vetri
- Ponderosa — Rob Rice
- Possum Town — Daniel Christian
- PUNKIE — Audrey Olsen
- Riverkeeper — Jason Goldman
- Saber — Matthew Wiatt
- Savig Etting Street — Amy Scott and Dena Fisher
- Seized — Sharon Liese
- Sell Your House — Eric Alexander Foss and Brandon Pickering
- SELMA: Songs of the Crossing — Jean-Jacques Cunnac
- Sender — Russel Goldman
- She Keeps Me Young — Doran Max Hagay
- Show Me the Line — Kelsey Ianuzzi
- Sincerely, Ric — Jesse Carfield
- Snake Oil Song — Micah Van Hove
- Sons of Detroit — Jeremy Xido
- TheyDream — William David Caballero
- Three Black Men — Sienna McLean-LoGreco
- Voyager — Trevor Mastro
- Warla — Kevin Alambra
- Warriors — Leland Hall
- We Are The Shaggs — Ken Williams Kwapis
- We Name Ourselves — Alejandra Alcala and Alex Garcia Martinez
- When We Were Live — John Spottswood Moore
- Wood Street — Caron Creighton
- You Fuckers Figure It Out: A Jason Molina Story — Tommy Nickoloff
- The Sandbox — Kenya-Jade Pinto
Beyond these selections, Sidewalk will feature hundreds of independent short films in popular category spotlights like Black Lens Shorts, Animated Shorts and Alabama Narratives. Find the full list of screenings on Sidewalk’s website.
How do I get tickets to Sidewalk Film Festival?
Ready to get your tickets to the 28th Sidewalk Film Festival? Festival passes are on sale now through the Sidewalk Film Festival website.
Pro tip: Before festival week, we recommend creating a free Sched account to browse the schedule, save favorite screenings and build a personalized festival itinerary.
What film (or films) are you looking forward to seeing at the 28th annual Sidewalk Film Festival? Tag us @bhamnow to let us know!
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