2019 Official Sidewalk Selections
21st Annual Sidewalk Film Festival Feature Film Lineup (plus shorts when available)
List activity
673 views
• 1 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
73 titles
- DirectorTyler NilsonMichael SchwartzStarsZack GottsagenAnn PierceDakota JohnsonZak, a man with down syndrome, runs away from a residential nursing home to pursue his dream of becoming a wrestler. Later, he meets with an outlaw who becomes his friend and coach.Life & Liberty Spotlight Night - special preview screening
- DirectorRoman ChimientiTyler JensenStarsCecil BaldwinMark PattonRobert EnglundA retrospective look at A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985) and the life of its lead actor, Mark Patton.SHOUT LGBTQ Spotlight Night - special preview screening
- DirectorLisa CortesFarah KhalidStarsMary J. BligeDapper DanMisa Hylton-BrimThe story of how hip hop changed fashion, leading to the stratospheric and global rise of street wear. It is a journey of African American creativity and the limitless possibilities of a cultural movement on a global scale.Black Lens Spotlight Night
- DirectorTyler MeasomPatrick WaldropStarsTori AmosJack AntonoffJeff AyeroffIn 1981, a new channel burst onto the rising spectrum of cable TV offerings. It became a touchstone for young people and a new format for musicians and filmmakers to show off their talents.Opening Night
- DirectorLara GallagherStarsSonya WalgerOtmara MarreroRamseyReeling from a one-sided breakup, heartbroken Karen breaks into her ex's lake house. There, she strikes up a complicated relationship with provocative younger woman Lana.
- DirectorAvi BelkinStarsMike WallaceSpiro AgnewJonathan AlterA look at the career of 60 Minutes (1968) newsman, Mike Wallace.
- DirectorClayton BrownMonica Long RossWe Believe in Dinosaurs follows the design and construction of a massive $120 million Noah’s Ark replica in rural Kentucky, telling the story of the unsettling and uniquely American conflict between science and religion.
- DirectorTakashi DoscherStarsFreida PintoLeslie Odom Jr.Chandler RiggsAfter a comet releases a mysterious virus that begins to kill all the women in the world, a young couple hides out in their over-sterilized apartment trying to fight for their lives.
- DirectorThomas L. NeffThe Tigerbelles, coached by the legendary, irascible Mr. Temple, were a group of African American female track athletes who broke the color barrier of the Olympics in the 1950s and '60s, winning 16 gold medals, over 30 national titles, and 100 percent of them received college degrees, all during the Jim Crow era.
- DirectorSteve BransfordCooper SanchezA profile of the legendary Southern gardener Ryan Gainey
- DirectorIrvin KershnerStarsMark HamillHarrison FordCarrie FisherAfter the Rebel Alliance are overpowered by the Empire, Luke Skywalker begins his Jedi training with Yoda, while his friends are pursued across the galaxy by Darth Vader and bounty hunter Boba Fett.
- DirectorJamie JeanStarsMikel OwensA true tale of a small community that faced tragedy and came out on top -ever stronger than before.
- DirectorTimothy Greenfield-SandersStarsToni MorrisonHilton AlsOprah WinfreyThis artful and intimate meditation on the legendary storyteller examines her life, her works and the powerful themes she has confronted throughout her literary career.
- DirectorMatt KliegmanAssembled from over 10 years of footage, Markie in Milwaukee tells the story of a midwestern transgender woman as she struggles with the prospect of de-transitioning under the pressures of her fundamentalist church, family and community.
- DirectorPhilip S. PlowdenStarsCeleste M CooperSean Patrick LeonardMichael B. WoodsA woman thru-hiking an isolated trail runs into trouble when her pack is hijacked by two men hiding out in the woods, desperate and on the run. Now, stranded and left to fend for herself, she has a choice: crawl back to her normal life in defeat, or push forward and take back what was stolen from her.
- DirectorShane VermootenStarsAnsel AustinJon EricksonArnav GattaniFollow the incredible journey of the underdog team of Junior High and High School students advancing to the semi finals of the international Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE competition to map the ocean sea floor. This is the first time a student team of such young age has ever advanced to the semi finals of any XPRIZE competition and shows the inspiration and determination that has these unlikely students overcoming historic odds to do something no one thought possible. The documentary culminates in a live ocean test in front of XPRIZE judges of their solution and experiencing both innocent humor and competitive determination to overcome every failure of hardware and ocean challenges and endure to the end. This will inspire students of any generations in any field to know what it means to take the risks in life and persevere to the end.
- DirectorJocelyn DeBoerDawn LuebbeStarsJocelyn DeBoerDawn LuebbeBeck BennettSuburban soccer moms find themselves constantly competing against each other in their personal lives as their kids settle their differences on the field.
- DirectorChanya ButtonStarsGemma ArtertonElizabeth DebickiIsabella RosselliniThe fascinating true story of the love affair between socialite and popular author Vita Sackville-West and literary icon Virginia Woolf.
- DirectorAndrew WonderStarsAnnapurna SriramDavid AlicandriBryan AmatoA homeless woman living in the tunnels below New York City survives on her own terms in the days leading up to a blizzard.
- DirectorJack SholderStarsRobert EnglundMark PattonKim MyersA teenage boy is haunted in his dreams by deceased child murderer Freddy Krueger, who is out to possess him in order to continue his reign of terror in the real world.
- DirectorJamel LajuanStarsRichard ArringtonJim BaggetPhilip BlantonIn 1979, a city official seeks to get elected as the first Black mayor in Birmingham, Alabama in the midst of racial unrest after the fatal shooting of an unarmed Black girl by a White police officer.
- DirectorErrol MorrisStarsSteve BannonBill ClintonHillary ClintonA portrait of controversial political strategist and former Donald Trump advisor, Steve Bannon.
- DirectorJake ThomasStarsKarla DroegeLex QuartermanJacquelyn ZookA bored house cat who longs to explore the outside world escapes his home after he mysteriously transforms into a human.
- DirectorDavy RothbartStarsCheryl SanfordChris FeddersonEmmanuel Durant Jr.Using two decades of intimate home video, the story of the Sanford family, whose struggles with addiction and gun violence eventually lead to a journey of love, loss, and acceptance.
- DirectorMiranda de PencierStarsJack AnawakFred BaileySeth BurkeIn a small Arctic town struggling with the highest suicide rate in North America, a group of Inuit students' lives are transformed when they are introduced to the sport of lacrosse.
- DirectorJennifer KentStarsAisling FranciosiMaya ChristieBaykali GanambarrSet in 1825, Clare, a young Irish convict woman, chases a British officer through the rugged Tasmanian wilderness, bent on revenge for a terrible act of violence he committed against her family. On the way she enlists the services of an Aboriginal tracker named Billy, who is also marked by trauma from his own violence-filled past.
- DirectorOnur TukelStarsTeisha HickmanFranck RaharinosyFrantzdy AlexandreIn an almost ruined theater, among bizarre characters, a businessman decides to appeal to his old book of "real" magic spells to modify his financial crisis while a middle-aged man gets in trouble when his new girlfriend becomes pregnant.
- DirectorKathleen JaymeStarsBryant ReevesBerry Tramel17 years after controversial Vancouver Grizzlies star Big Country Bryant Reeves leaves town, super fan Kat Jayme goes on a mission to find her childhood hero and tell his story.
- DirectorSebastian JonesRamez SilyanStarsRob CavalloGhostemaneHorse HeadA look at the life of genre-blending artist and style icon Lil Peep.
- DirectorRachel MasonStarsKaren MasonBarry MasonMicah MasonIn 1976, Karen and Barry Mason had fallen on hard times and were looking for a way to support their young family when they answered an ad in the Los Angeles Times. Larry Flynt was seeking distributors for Hustler Magazine. What was expected to be a brief sideline led to their becoming fully immersed in the LGBT community as they took over a local store, Circus of Books. A decade later, they had become the biggest distributors of gay porn in the US. The film focuses on the double life they led, trying to maintain the balance of being parents at a time when LGBT culture was not yet accepted. Their many challenges included facing jail time for a federal obscenity prosecution and enabling their store to be a place of refuge at the height of the AIDS crisis. Circus of Books offers a rare glimpse into an untold chapter of queer history, and it is told through the lens of the owners' own daughter, Rachel Mason, an artist, filmmaker and musician.
- DirectorMichael BarnettStarsMack BeggsSarah Rose HuckmanTerry MillerTransgender high school athletes from across the country compete at the top of their fields, while also challenging the boundaries and perceptions of fairness and discrimination.
- DirectorTal GranitSharon MaymonStarsStav StrashkoNetsanet MekonenNoam LugasyThree teenagers from Jerusalem sell their kidneys to pay for cosmetic surgery and prom dresses. As a secret uncovers they realize nothing is as it seems.
- DirectorRashaad Ernesto GreenStarsZora HowardJoshua BooneMichelle WilsonSeventeen year-old Ayanna meets handsome and mysterious Isaiah in her path toward self-discovery. Her entire world is turned upside down as she travails on the rigorous terrain of young love in the summer before she leaves for college.
- DirectorLeilah WeinraubStarsEgyptJazmyneJuniorSHAKEDOWN chronicles explicit performances in an underground lesbian club in Los Angeles. The story functions as a legend where money is both myth and material. Cumulatively, questions arise about how to diagram the before and after of a utopic moment.2019 Sidewalk Stripper Movie #2
- DirectorDaniel ScheinertStarsMichael Abbott Jr.Virginia NewcombAndre HylandDick died last night, and Zeke and Earl don't want anybody finding out how. That's too bad though, cause news travels fast in small-town Alabama.
- DirectorAlejandro LandesStarsSofia BuenaventuraJulián GiraldoKaren QuinteroOn a remote mountaintop, eight kids with guns watch over a hostage and a conscripted milk cow.
- DirectorPeter StricklandStarsSidse Babett KnudsenMarianne Jean-BaptisteJulian BarrattIn Fabric is a haunting ghost story set against the backdrop of a busy winter sales period in a department store and follows the life of a cursed dress as it passes from person to person, with devastating consequences.
- DirectorCody StokesStarsGarland ScottFrank MosleyAlexia RasmussenAn imprisoned criminal rats out his former boss for one last chance to reunite his family and become the father he never was.
- DirectorGene GrahamStarsLakia HunterMichele MoorePoundcakeThis documentary explores the sexual and social identity of contemporary black America through intimate, eye opening and often hilarious accounts from women and men who find love and community in the underground world of exotic dancing.2019 Sidewalk Stripper Movie #3
- DirectorEvan JohnsonGalen JohnsonGuy MaddinStarsRock HudsonKarl MaldenChuck NorrisDirector Guy Maddin's interpretation of the Alfred Hitchcock classic Vertigo, pieced together using footage from old films and television shows shot in and around the San Francisco area.
- DirectorSamantha BuckMarie SchlingmannStarsMichael MosleyJulie WhiteJordan ElsassAmerica’s most famous evangelist is a woman looking for a way out. Fed up with her own success, and swept up in her lover’s daydreams about Mexico, she finds herself on a wild road trip to the border. Based on true events. Mostly made up.
- DirectorAlan ElliottSydney PollackStarsAretha FranklinJames ClevelandAlexander HamiltonA documentary presenting Aretha Franklin with choir at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Watts, Los Angeles in January 1972.
- DirectorEllen FiskeEllinor HallinAs her childhood turns into motherhood, teenage troublemaker Gemma comes of age in her fading Scottish steel town. But in a place where "you either get knocked up or locked up," innocent games can easily turn into serious crime.
- DirectorBrandon VedderStarsJonah BayerDavid BazanDavid DarkA documentary exploring the spiritual, artistic, and personal turmoil of musician David Bazan (from the band Pedro the Lion), set against America's own crisis of faith highlighted by the 2016 presidential election.
- DirectorGorman BechardStarsLyle LovettAaron GreenbergHenry WinklerLearn about the history, the families, the love and design that goes into each pie, and discover a completely new appreciation for pizza as true culinary art.
- DirectorMatt WolfStarsAnne Stokes HochbergFrank HollmanTom KeenanFor over 30 years, Marion Stokes obsessively and privately recorded American television news 24 hours a day filling 70,000 VHS tapes, capturing wars, talk shows and commercials that show us how television shaped the world of today.
- DirectorDaniel SchechterStarsJustin LongKate BerlantLynn CohenAn NYC professor spends a week re-connecting with his family while defending his reputation over controversial behavior at his college.
- DirectorMads BrüggerStarsMads BrüggerClarinah MfenguSaphir Wenzi MabanzaDanish director Mads Brügger and Swedish private investigator Göran Björkdahl are trying to solve the mysterious death of Dag Hammarskjöld. As their investigation closes in, they discover a crime far worse than killing the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
- DirectorRichard LowensteinStarsMichael HutchenceDennis FarrissINXSA documentary feature about the troubled heart and soul of Michael Hutchence, lead singer and songwriter of INXS.
- DirectorJono MitchellStarsHart MorseMarianne JohnsonJason MacDonaldA teenage boy tears up his small-town roots and heads for the big city to make his mark while honoring his mother's legacy by entering a drag pageant.
- DirectorDavid Charles RodriguesStarsTim SeeligChris VerdugoAshle BlowIn response to a wave of discriminatory anti-LGBTQ laws and the divisive 2016 election, the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus embarks on a tour of the American Deep South.
- DirectorHarry MavromichalisStarsKary AntholisEdward AsnerLeslie AyvazianAn uncompromising truth-seeking rebel, Olympia Dukakis refuses to yield to social norms while pushing forward her own subversive narrative.
- DirectorRob FruchtmanSteve LawrenceStarsClaire CoreyTara GreenStuart SietFeral and abandoned cats prowl the streets of New York City in the tens of thousands. Because the City can't handle this problem, hundreds of dedicated, volunteer rescuers have come to their aid. Our film focuses on four of them in the borough of Brooklyn.
- DirectorJennifer ReederStarsKate ArringtonTim HopperJames Vincent MeredithA mystical teen noir that follows a young girl's disappearance in the rural Midwest and its effect on teens and parents.
- DirectorLynn SheltonStarsMarc MaronJon BassMichaela WatkinsCynthia and Mary show up to collect Cynthia's inheritance from her deceased grandfather, but the only item she receives is an antique sword that was believed by her grandfather to be proof that the South won the Civil War.
- DirectorBob ByingtonStarsKaley WhelessNick OffermanMartin StarrA small town's reaction to scandal.
- DirectorJohn G. AvildsenStarsRalph MacchioPat MoritaElisabeth ShueA martial arts master agrees to teach karate to a bullied teenager.
- DirectorJacqueline OliveStarsWilliam J. Barber IIDanny GloverSherrilyn IfillWhen Lennon Lacy is found hanging from a swing set in rural North Carolina, his mother's search for justice begins while the trauma of more than a century of lynching African Americans bleeds into the present.
- DirectorPaul HarrillStarsMarin IrelandJim GaffiganJosh WigginsA single mom and part-time paranormal investigator is asked to look into a possible "haunting" at a widower's farmhouse in East Tennessee.
- DirectorJoe HeslingaStarsTodd LoffredoTony SpredemanRyan MooreThrough an ensemble cast, FOOSBALLERS not only uncovers a forgotten piece of sports history, it follows 6 of the best table soccer players in the world as they prepare for The Tornado World Championships.
- DirectorAlex WolffStarsSkyler GisondoAlex WolffMike EppsWhilst his mother seeks treatment in rehab, teenager Nick (Wolff) comes to New York to stay with Cal (Epps), a Jazz musician friend of his late father's. During his stay he makes friends who show him what the city has to offer.
- DirectorJeffrey McHaleStarsToon AgterbergNancy AllenKevin BaconPaul Verhoeven's Showgirls (1995) was met by critics and audiences with near-universal derision. "You Don't Nomi" traces the film's redemptive journey from notorious flop to cult classic, and maybe even masterpiece.
- DirectorPatrick BresnanIvete LucasStarsB.J. CrawfordJocabed MartinezNa'Kerria NelsonIn a small agricultural town in the Florida Everglades, hopes for the future are concentrated on the youth. Four teens face heartbreak and celebrate in the rituals of an extraordinary senior year.
- DirectorRick AlversonStarsTye SheridanUdo KierLarry FessendenThe story of a young man who, after losing his mother, goes to work with a doctor specializing in lobotomies and therapies.
- DirectorTheodore CollatosCarolina MonneratStarsLuana MunizLarger-than-life actress, cabaret performer, activist, and proud sex professional since the age of eleven, Luana Muniz - arguably one of Brazil's most famous transgender personalities - shaped a new reality in her hostel by providing a safe working environment for generations of young transgendered girls in neighborhood of Lapa in Rio de Janeiro. Queen of Lapa explores the women's day-to-day lives, quests for love, the Brazilian political climate, housemate rivalries, all under matriarch Muniz's watchful and guiding eye.
- DirectorPaul VerhoevenStarsElizabeth BerkleyKyle MacLachlanGina GershonA mysterious young drifter who calls herself Nomi Malone hitches a ride to Las Vegas, Nevada, and begins working as a strip club dancer, and sets about clawing her way to the top of the Vegas showgirls.
- DirectorDavid HambridgeStarsJames MwendaKIFARU is a feature documentary that journeys beyond the global headlines that have accumulated around 'Sudan,' the last male northern white rhino in existence, and explores the painful emptiness of extinction through the eyes of Sudan's three primary caregivers. Teetering on borrowed time and with his health in decline, Sudan's looming death and the uncertainty of employment that it will bring hangs over the heads of our three dynamic characters. Their only hope to save the species that they love - and perhaps their livelihood - rests fully in the success of a last resort IVF experiment.
- DirectorYuri ShapochkaStarsParker HerringRobert D. McKennaA young dancer, Parker, challenges the ever present questions of existence, love, death, and nature.
- DirectorAri AsterStarsFlorence PughJack ReynorVilhelm BlomgrenA couple travels to Northern Europe to visit a rural hometown's fabled Swedish mid-summer festival. What begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.Second-ever screening of the Director's Cut
- DirectorOndi TimonerStarsMatt SmithMarianne RendónJohn Benjamin HickeyA look at the life of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe from his rise to fame in the 1970s to his untimely death in 1989.World premiere of the Director's Cut
- DirectorAllison ReynoldsStarsKat Conner SterlingGritted follows the story of a young, awkward teenage girl named Autumn, who feels that her teeth are crooked, yellow, and ugly. Autumn desperately longs to have her teeth fixed in order to fit in with the beauty standards of society. Unfortunately, her family is not financially able to grant Autumn's wishes. After being cast out and teased for her less than perfect teeth, Autumn decides to take matters into her own hands, no matter what the costs may be.Alabama Spotlight Night
- DirectorLaurel TaylorStarsCarlton BellClint CraneRachel Marie DanielSomething goes wrong for a group of friends at a Halloween party.Alabama Spotlight Night
- DirectorLogan LanierStarsGabriella BandaBora ErcanFiona GreenAlex, a whimsical girl, lives with her parents on a rural and secluded farm. She sneaks out of her house and wanders through the fading sunlight in search of a perfect hiding spot. She is careful of watchful eyes on her adventure. She shouldn't be doing this, whatever that may be.Alabama Spotlight Night