What's Happening in Education and Outreach at Sidewalk

Join us for TWO special Southern Circuit screenings in March!

Mama Bears Screening + Post-Film Discussion
with Parker Cunningham and Tammi Terrell Morris
March 15 | $15 | 7PM

Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema is proud to be a screening venue for the 2022 Southern Circuit. Since Southern Circuit’s inception in 1975, hundreds of filmmakers have toured, sharing their work and perspective with over one hundred Screening Partner communities throughout South Arts’ nine-state region (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee). Southern Circuit is made possible through a partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. 

Did you know there are more than 32,000 mothers in America—many from conservative, Christian backgrounds—who fully accept their LGBTQ+ children? Spread across the country but connected through private Facebook groups, they call themselves “mama bears” because while their love is warm and fuzzy, they fight ferociously to make the world kinder and safer for all LGBTQ+ people. Although some may have grown up as fundamentalist, evangelical Christians, mama bears are willing to risk losing friends, family, and faith communities to keep their offspring safe—even if it challenges their belief systems and rips their worlds apart.

Mama Bears is an intimate, thought-provoking exploration of the journeys taken by Sara Cunningham and Kimberly Shappley, two “mama bears”—whose profound love for their LGBTQ children has turned them into fierce advocates for the entire queer community—and Tammi Terrell Morris, a young African American lesbian whose struggle for self-acceptance perfectly exemplifies why the mama bears are so vitally important.

We are excited to welcome Parker Cunningham and Tammi Terrell Morris, activists featured in Mama Bears, to our post film discussion!

Get Tickets Here

Blurring the Color Line Screening + Post-Film Discussion
with director Crystal Kwok and producer Gustin Smith
March 27 | $15 | 7PM

Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema is proud to be a screening venue for the 2022 Southern Circuit. Since Southern Circuit’s inception in 1975, hundreds of filmmakers have toured, sharing their work and perspective with over one hundred Screening Partner communities throughout South Arts’ nine-state region (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee). Southern Circuit is made possible through a partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. 

Where did the Chinese sit on the bus during Jim Crow? Blurring the Color Line breaks racial barriers by going beyond the narratives of black & white. Much has been written about segregation upon Black people in the South, but nothing that discusses the social placement of Asian Americans during this time. This film invites critical conversations around today’s racial tensions by addressing a connective past.

Blurring the Color Line is inspired by Crystal Kwok’s grandmother’s story about her family’s grocery store in Augusta, Georgia. Her family grew up in a Black neighborhood and they share stories about their personal experiences that expose the problematic, racialized system. The film decenters existing narratives and showcases perspectives from both the Chinese and Black community, opening up necessary but uncomfortable discussions between marginalized groups.

Blurring the Color Line is a step towards cross-racial solidarity by having a better understanding of the past in efforts of changing the future. Both Asian and Black groups have faced hardships and lack of nrepresentation in the media, so this film is needed now more than ever.

We are excited to welcome director Crystal Kwok and producer Gustin Smith to our post film discussion!

Get Tickets Here

March Book + Film Club is on Female Independent Filmmakers

Book: Independent Female Filmmakers: A Chronicle through Interviews, Profiles, and Manifestos by Michele Meek

"Michele Meek's 'Independent Female Filmmakers' is an invaluable collection of some of the very best interviews with legendary female practitioners in film, television, and the visual arts." - Feminist Media Studies

Film: Daughters of the Dust (1991, dir. Julie Dash)

"Daughters of the Dust has a gorgeous, overwhelming sense of place. It is almost startlingly beautiful, blessed with deep fiery hues and a poetic sensibility. It is a film made stronger by its belief in itself, and it challenges its audience to believe also.... But because "Daughters" is so gloriously textured, its rewards are many." - The Boston Globe

March MAILING Registration Deadline: Friday March 3. 
March PICK UP Registration Deadline: Monday March 20. 

Private screening and discussion will take place at Sidewalk Cinema March 29 at 7 PM.

Register Here