20th Annual Sidewalk Film Festival presented by Regions

Join us as Jenny Mackenzie, documentary filmmaker, and Mike Blum, animator of political PSAs, discuss the power of film to effect change. Moderated by Virginia Newcomb. Panels are free.


Director & Producer, Jenny Mackenzie, Ph.D.’s previous work focuses on bringing social and racial justice issues as well as public health dilemmas far beyond the screening room to maximize discussions, education, outreach, and social change. Her films include Kick Like A Girl, Where’s Herbie? , Lead With Love, Invisible Disabilities, Sugar Babies, Dying in Vein the Opiate Generation, and Quite Heroes, which premiered at the 2018 Sundance film festival.  Kick Like A Girl premiered on HBO, was nominated for an IDA award, and is being used in school curricula around the country, fostering discussions of gender equality. Her other films have been on HULU, LOGO, AMAZON, and iTunes. Her newest film Deep South Cancer Fighter’s is premiering this afternoon at 12:30 at Sidewalk. Jenny earned a BA from Brown University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Utah.


Mike Blum owns the boutique, animation studio, Pipsqueak Films and is a sought after speaker who lectures around the world about animation-related topics. He is also an Emmy-nominated director and has won many awards in his multiple capacities as director, writer and producer. Mike’s teams at Pipsqueak Films have completed animation service work for clients including Comedy Central, Netflix, MTV, PBS and Explosm Entertainment and have completed multiple advertising spots for diverse clients such as Kastner & Partners, Matrixx Software and Chuck & Charlie. Mike has personally created and sold animated series to places like Cartoon Network, DreamWorksTV and Defy Media.
 
Mike recently finished showrunning of the animated series SUPER SLACKERS for David Silverman (THE SIMPSONS) which launched the new 420tv network. He is the creator and showrunner of both the award-winning animated series FIFI: CAT THERAPIST (DreamWorks TV) and GET MY GOAT (DreamWorks TV). Prior to that, Mike was the creator and showrunner of the hit animated digital series, SAMURAI! DAYCARE (Defy Media), and showrunner THE ADVENTURES OF BAXTER & MCGUIRE (Comedy Central), a CG series which earned Mike an Emmy nomination and which screened in competition at Sundance and Annecy. He also is writer/producer/director of the CG short, THE ZIT (PBS), which screened in over 100 festivals and won numerous international awards.  Mike sold and developed a segment for Disney’s TWICE UPON A CHRISTMAS and also produced the multiple award-winning, live-action feature, THE PLAYBACK SINGER (House Lights Media/Inception), which won the New Visions award at the Cinequest Film Festival and has been available on VOD, DVD, Amazon and other digital platforms since its theatrical run.   
 
Mike co-founded Our Next 4 Years in 2017 which has rapidly grown to include over 300 animation professionals -- many Oscar and Emmy winners and nominees among them. They have already released nearly 30 PSAs covering a range of progressive issues. Mike serves as the CCO for the organization.
 
Mike is currently developing numerous animated series for both kids and adults. He is an active member of both the PGA and WGA.

Richard O'Connor - Producer/Director has been making animated things for a quarter of a century. These have included theatrical features (Frank Oz' "The Stepford Wives", Merchant/Ivory's "White Countess", Rebecca Miller's "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee"), documentaries ("Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns", "Chicago Ten", "Nursery University"), television (Nickelodeon's "Kablam!", Cartoon Network's "Big Bag", PBS' "Between the Lions") and commercials. Richard's first job producing animation was for a Sesame Workshop series in 1996 that was billed as the first US series created by a Latina female.  It was about a cat with a magical telescope that could see children's emotions. Since he has created work for a range of productions including documentaries concerning public education, undocumented immigrants and animal welfare. Currently his studio is creating an ongoing series of oral history animated films with StoryCorps. He has taught at Parsons School of Design, NYU, University of the Arts, and Rhode Island School Design. Currently, he serves on the steering committee of Our Next 4 Years

Brandon Loper will present his short documentary, Still KD: Through The Noise, about Kevin Durant and discuss some of the challenges and rewards of creating documentaries about sports. 

Film Festival Programmers from Sidewalk Film Festival, Oxford Film Festival, and Cucalorus Film Festival will answer questions about how to get your film into a festival, what programmers are looking for, and how the selection process typically works.

James Martin, documentary filmmaker, will discuss his work with the US Embassy in Nairobi on the Stories Found initiative and showcase the human-focused short documentaries he's assisted emerging filmmakers in Kenya to make.

Several of this year's SHOUT selections (Mapplethorpe, 1985, Wild Nights with Emily, Union, Miseducation of Cameron Post) explore what it meant to be part of the LGBTQ community at different points in history. Join us as we discuss identity through time and how these films explore that in different ways.

Emily Best of Seed&Spark will lead a workshop teaching filmmakers how to utilize crowdfunding tools to support their next project. 

We will read the winning short scripts and a scene from the winning feature script from this year's Sidewrite screenplay competition. The scripts are Cherry Glazed by Christine Sherwood, June Block Hero by Seth Kojak, and Indian Country by Troy Kelly.

Kristy Clabaugh and John Thomas of a prominent production accounting firm will help filmmakers understand the basics of how to budget for their projects. 

Festival programmers will discuss what happens when a filmmaker or actor whose work you love does something really crappy, especially in light of the #timesup and #metoo movements.