Southern Exposure Film Fellowship

19/08/2024

We are so proud to once again have our films screen at the Sidewalk Film Festival this weekend in Birmingham!

Check out LULLABY FOR SIPSEY by Palavi Ahuja, FL*SHING INJUSTICE by Astrid Malter and THEY NEVER LEFT by Quinn A. Smith during the event! Learn more at Sidewalk's website!

***ABOUT THE FILMS***

LULLABY FOR SIPSEY: In this micro-short film, enjoy as a captivating poem unfolds, gently celebrating the profound beauty found in the intricate details of the Sipsey Wilderness.

THEY NEVER LEFT: "We are our ancestor’s wildest dreams, and we are still here".

Some Indigenous people were never forced to leave what is now known as Alabama, and many across the continent are still intimately connected to their sacred homelands. Meet three Indigenous people who are answering their ancestor’s prayers to reclaim traditional lifeways, protect the environment, and teach us all how to better our relationships with the natural world and Native Nations.

FL*SHING INJUSTICE: Sherry Bradley and Perman Hardy met on an ordinary Friday afternoon. Amid national and international media recognition of the egregious sanitation and health challenges facing counties across the Black Belt, they helped create an extraordinary consortium of community members, academic institutions, nonprofits, and government agencies dedicated to finding practical solutions for wastewater issues throughout the Black Belt in Alabama.

The Black Belt Unincorporated Wastewater Project, UAB Sanitation Health and Equity program and other members of the Alabama Rural Water and Wastewater Management Consortium, are utilizing historic state and federal infrastructure funding to implement real solutions on the ground, transforming communities through education and bringing justice to areas that have long been overlooked and underserved for these basic needs.

06/06/2024

We are so so proud to announce the selection of five talented documentary filmmakers for the 2024 Southern Exposure Film Fellowship, kicking off on June 17! During the innovative six-week summer program, the film fellows will create short documentaries that tell impactful stories about Alabama’s unique people and places. The films amplify the vital work of Alabamians dedicated to preserving our rich biodiversity, offering audiences an intimate glimpse into the solutions and actions essential for ensuring a thriving environment for everyone.

Meet the 2024 Film Fellows!

*ROBERT BOYD*
Robert Boyd Wildlife Vlog (he/him) is a filmmaker, editor, narrator, Fulbright National Geographic Fellow, and lover of small and microscopic life.

Robert strives to create compelling narratives through reporting, writing, and filmmaking. While working as a video engineer intern aboard the Exploration Vessel Nautilus, he facilitated and filmed live educational interactions between Ocean Exploration Trust staff and on-shore educational groups. He also controlled and monitored ROV-mounted cameras, recording deep sea fauna found in the Gulf of California.

Previously, Robert worked with the National Park Service, using film to highlight the environmental and historical amenities of Manassas National Battlefield Park, Everglades National Park, and Indiana Dunes National Park. He produced a piece exploring zooplankton research at the Smithsonian Institution. Robert also served as a Post-Graduate Fellow with the Investigative Reporting Workshop and PBS Frontline, where he assisted with creating the Peabody-nominated primetime documentary “The Healthcare Divide”.

For most of 2022, Robert was on assignment in Barbados for a Fulbright National Geographic Fellowship, where he created a documentary about the Barbados Threadsnake, one of the world’s smallest serpents.

*CHARLES CONNELL*
Charlie Connell (he/him) is a documentary filmmaker hailing from Rochester Hills, Michigan. After earning a BS in Advertising Management from Michigan State University, he enrolled at American University in Washington, D.C., where he is currently working toward a Film & Media Arts MFA with a concentration in Environmental and Wildlife Filmmaking.

A lifelong learner and a well-rounded teammate who loves to create, Charles has developed his skills while producing video projects for the National Park Service, having his work showcased on Maryland Public Television, and teaching others along the way.

Combining his love of the outdoors, fascination with the animal kingdom, a knack for storytelling, and an ever-present positive attitude, Charles looks to create fresh and unique documentary films that can educate, entertain, and bring about impactful change.

*OLIVIA HALL*
Olivia Hall (she/her) is a proud Alabama native and recent graduate from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. At UAB, Olivia discovered a passion for multimodal storytelling as well as a deeper love and appreciation for the South. Her student documentary short, “Up In Smoke,” created with Southern Exposure alum Annie Foreman, was showcased at the 2023 Sidewalk Film Festival. Olivia is particularly passionate about exploring the relationship between individuals and their environment through film, with a focus on the South’s natural beauty and charm.

*HANNAH SCHOETTMER AND KALEB MANSKE*
Hannah Schoettmer and Kaleb Manske are both recent graduates from the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. They are both independently award-winning filmmakers and writers, having screened work in festivals like the Chicago Horror Film Festival, the Milwaukee Film Festival, Pareidolia Video Art Festival, and Panic Fest and they have published writing in venues like The Louisville Review, the Indianapolis Review, and Glass: A Journal of Poetry.

They met in a documentary production course, where they teamed up and co-directed a short documentary about P-22, a famous mountain lion who lived in Los Angeles. Over the course of that project, they realized that they challenged each other creatively in ways that bettered their work. They decided to continue making documentaries together as a team, and are excited to bring their skills to Southern Exposure.

Learn more about the fellows and the films they will be working on at the l i n k below!

Southern ExposureMeet the 2024 Southern Exposure Film Fellows! Posted on June 3, 2024June 6, 2024 by Alabama Rivers Alliance Alabama Rivers Alliance is proud to announce the selection of five talented documentary filmmakers for the 2024 Southern Exposure Film Fellowship, kicking off on June 17. Duri...

14/03/2024

Thank you to Black Warrior Riverkeeper for making sure all libraries in their watershed have access to the Southern Exposure films!

Seth Self, our intern from University of Alabama School of Law and UA College of Communication and Information Sciences, recently delivered Alabama Rivers Alliance's newest Southern Exposure Film Fellowship DVD to The Demopolis Public Library. More on Seth via Tuscaloosa Patch: https://patch.com/alabama/tuscaloosa/self-secures-second-summer-internship-black-warrior-riverkeeper

13/03/2024

The deadline to apply for the 2024 Southern Exposure Film Fellowship is FRIDAY! Tell all your friends and their friends, and then their friends!

Now in its 12th year, the Southern Exposure Film Fellowship program provides a challenging learning experience to exceptional film students and emerging filmmakers from across the country seeking to explore and develop their talent as environmental advocates through nonfiction storytelling. This PAID innovative summer fellowship equips students with the skills, equipment, content knowledge and contacts to create authentic, engaging, inspiring films intended to raise public awareness about important issues facing Alabama’s environment — from the mountains to the coast.

Learn more and apply:

SOUTHERN EXPOSURE FILM FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM Documenting the Struggle and Celebrating the Successes of Environmental Protection in Alabama A Multimedia Summer Fellowship Sponsored by the Alabama Rivers Alliance Fellowship Dates: June 17 more »

29/02/2024

Friends in Florence! See the latest Southern Exposure Films at the George Lindsey UNA Film Festival TODAY from 4 pm - 7 pm at the UNA campus at the AlleyCat! We are so excited to share these films with you. After the films, we'll have a great panel discussion with those featured in the films. You don't want to miss! Learn more here: http://www.lindseyfilmfest.com/2024-schedule.html

16/02/2024

We are so excited to bring the 2023 films to the George Lindsey UNA Film Festival February 29 from 4 - 7 pm! If you're in the area, be sure to check out the screening and stick around for discussion after!

10/01/2024

See you this Saturday at the Festival Of The Cranes 2024! Along with Wild Alabama, we are excited to present a specially curated selection of Southern Exposure films during the wildly popular event in Decatur! Check us out at the Priceville Event Center from 11 am - 1 pm (pop in and out any time!) to see some hand-picked short documentary films from our last five years highlighting special people and places in Alabama. Wheeler Wildlife Refuge Association - WWRA

05/01/2024

Applications for the 2024 Southern Exposure Film Fellowship are NOW OPEN! Apply by March 15 to be considered for this one-of-a-kind PAID opportunity to make a short documentary this summer!

Now in its 12th year, Southern Exposure Films provides a positive and challenging learning experience to exceptional film students and emerging filmmakers from across the country seeking to explore and develop their talent as environmental advocates through nonfiction storytelling. This innovative summer fellowship equips students with the skills, equipment, content knowledge and community contacts to create authentic, engaging, inspiring films intended to raise public awareness about important issues facing Alabama’s environment -- from the mountains to the coast. The selected fellows will use their skills and talents to serve local communities and the environmental organizations that support them.

Learn more and apply today!

SOUTHERN EXPOSURE FILM FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM Documenting the Struggle and Celebrating the Successes of Environmental Protection in Alabama A Multimedia Summer Fellowship Sponsored by the Alabama Rivers Alliance Fellowship Dates: June 17 more »

11/10/2023

Great news for Jefferson County! You can now check out the 2022 Southern Exposure films on DVD at any library in Jefferson County (as well as Birmingham Public Library). Thank you so much to Black Warrior Riverkeeper for making this possible in the Black Warrior River watershed!

New Southern Exposure DVDs donated to all 40 Jefferson County Library Cooperative locations. For immediate release: https://blackwarriorriver.org/southern-exposure-in-jclc-2023/

10/10/2023

We are over the moon proud of our 2022 film, SEE ME IN NATURE, for winning BEST SHORT at the Eugene Environmental Film Festival earlier this month! This film, by Asia Singleton, introduces the audience to a few of Alabama’s Black environmental leaders, activists, and historians who are currently shaping their community and providing long-overdue awareness of the roots of the work. Special thank you to Jon L McNair, La'Tanya Scott, Nina Morgan, Cory Pettway and Dr. Rashidah H. Farid, for their time and energy making this great film!

22/09/2023

Thank you to WBRC FOX6 News for letting follks know about TRASHED, premiering tonight at the Southern Exposure 2023 World Premiere! See you there!

Documentary about Moody landfill fire debuts tomorrow

19/09/2023

THEY NEVER LEFT: INDIGENOUS RETURN AND RECLAMATION IN THE SOUTHEAST by Quinn E. Smith

"We are our ancestor’s wildest dreams, and we are still here".

Some Indigenous people were never forced to leave what is now known as Alabama, and many across the continent are still intimately connected to their sacred homelands. Meet three Indigenous people who are answering their ancestor’s prayers to reclaim traditional lifeways, protect the environment, and teach us all how to better our relationships with the natural world and Native Nations.

See this film and more at the Southern Exposure 2023 World Premiere! Friday night!

hummingbirdsprings_farm Cherokee Tribe of Northeast Alabama

19/09/2023

TRASHED, a film by Annie Foreman

Landfills are an out-of-sight, out-of-mind part of everyday life in America, but in Alabama, they have long been a case for noxious odors, air and water pollution, and a lax regulatory environment that leaves communities vulnerable to environmental and health hazards. In the aftermath of a 2022 landfill fire near Birmingham that raged for months, suffocating multiple counties in smoke and odor, nearby residents demanded answers. They questioned how this was allowed to happen, why this company was not held accountable for years of violations, and what could be done to demand more from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management. This film holds ADEM’s feet to the fire, as non-profit organizations like Cahaba Riverkeeper, Gasp and Friends of Pinchgut Creek lead the charge to protect the water and air for nearby residents.

See the full film, plus others created as part of the 2023 Southern Exposure Film Fellowship program, Friday, September 22! Click here to learn more: https://alabamarivers.org/se-2023/

15/09/2023

We CANNOT WAIT to see you Friday September 22 for the Southern Exposure 2023 World Premiere! Created in six short weeks this summer, the Southern Exposure Films celebrate special people and places in Alabama while exploring complex issues and solutions. In this collection, we’ll explore the Sipsey Wilderness through the eyes of a “city girl” and see why our special places need to be protected for all Alabamians. We’ll learn about real wastewater solutions being implemented in the Black Belt, bringing justice to areas that have long been overlooked and underserved for these basic needs. We will meet three Indigenous people who have felt the call to protect their land, and we will hold ADEM’s feet to the proverbial fire as we question why a landfill was left essentially unregulated for years, resulting in the Moody Landfill Fire that raged for months. Finally, we will see just how precious the mussel is to our ecosystem, while learning about a project that would culminate in the most ecologically significant river reconnection project in the history of the United States, right here in Alabama.

Learn more and watch the trailers here: https://alabamarivers.org/se-2023/

Sherry Bradley and Perman Hardy met on an ordinary Friday afternoon. Amid national and international media recognition of the egregious sanitation and health challenges facing counties across the Black Belt, they helped create an extraordinary consortium of community members, academic institutions,....

12/09/2023

Director Lily Ahree Siegel goes on a playfully sardonic escapade as she ventures beyond city limits – and air conditioning – into the Sipsey Wilderness in Northwest Alabama. It is her home state, after all; a land she once passed, but never knew. Will meeting others who are in tune with the spell this area cast help reconcile that Wilderness is for her too? Wild Alabama

See the full film, plus others, Friday, September 22 at the Southern Exposure 2023 World Premiere!

12/09/2023

MUSSEL MEMORY, a film by Nora Long

Dams have completely altered the species makeup, flows, and habitat of many of our most important river systems. In Alabama, home to some of the greatest biodiversity in the nation, Claiborne and Miller’s Ferry Locks and Dams have prevented migratory fish, like the sturgeon and Alabama Shad, from accessing their historic runs from the Gulf of Mexico up the Alabama River to their spawning grounds in the Cahaba River since they were built in the 1970s. These barriers have also left endangered and threatened mussels unable to reproduce and in peril of dying out. MUSSEL MEMORY explores the significance of reconnecting river systems and protecting Alabama's freshwater mussels, our natural water filtration system. Join scientists, conservationists, engineers and anglers as they fight to restore fish passage along the Alabama and Cahaba Rivers.

A project of this magnitude would culminate in the most ecologically significant river reconnection project in the history of the United States, right here in Alabama.

See the full film, plus others, Friday, September 22 at Southern Exposure 2023 World Premiere!

Send a message to learn more

12/09/2023

FL*SHING INJUSTICE, a film by Astrid Malter

Sherry Bradley and Perman Hardy met on an ordinary Friday afternoon. Amid national and international media recognition of the egregious sanitation and health challenges facing counties across the Black Belt, they helped create an extraordinary consortium of community members, academic institutions, nonprofits, and government agencies dedicated to finding practical solutions for wastewater issues throughout the Black Belt in Alabama.

The Black Belt Unincorporated Wastewater Project, UAB Sanitation Health and Equity program and other members of the Alabama Rural Water and Wastewater Management Consortium, are utilizing historic state and federal infrastructure funding to implement real solutions on the ground, transforming communities through education and bringing justice to areas that have long been overlooked and underserved for these basic needs.

See the full film, plus others, Friday, September 22 at Southern Exposure 2023 World Premiere!

29/08/2023

“We are once again so excited to work with Black Warrior Riverkeeper to make sure the 2022 Southern Exposure films are available for free throughout Birmingham,” Cindy Lowry, executive director of the Alabama Rivers Alliance, said. “This collaboration helps amplify the stories and issues within our communities, and spotlights the trailblazers working to defend rivers in Alabama, enriching the heart of the Black Warrior River watershed, season after season!”

New Southern Exposure Films Donated to all 18 Birmingham Public Library Locations. For Immediate Release: https://blackwarriorriver.org/southern-exposure-in-bpl-2023/

21/08/2023

It's Sidewalk Film Festival week! When making your schedules, don't forget about the Southern Exposure Films. See Taxing the Sun, See Me In Nature and Our 100 Year Floods this weekend! The best part is sharing these films with communities and audiences throughout Alabama so be sure to check them out. And mark your calendars now for September 22 - the World Premiere of the 2023 films at The Altamont School!

23/03/2023

We are so proud that our 2022 fellow Tiffany Womack’s film “What About the Drinking Water” was honored with the BEST CALL TO ACTION award at the World Water Film Festival held in conjunction with the UN-Water Conference in New York last weekend! What an honor and we can’t wait to share it more with communities in Birmingham and beyond! Cahaba Riverkeeper Cahaba River Society Greater Birmingham Ministries SELC

14/02/2023

We were completely honored to accept the Conservation Impact Through Arts and Media award from the Cahaba River Society at their annual meeting last week for the Southern Exposure Film Fellowship program! These films make such a huge impact in Alabama and beyond and Alabama Rivers Alliance is so proud to host the program each summer. Thank you to Series Producer Michele Forman and ARA board member Tony Diliberto for accepting the award!

The award reads: "for the impact their films have had, lifting up urgent Alabama environmental issues to people and decisionmakers throughout the state and to the nation and moving the needle on policy and protection at home."

Thank you so much for this awesome honor! We can't wait to make more meaningful and inspirational films this summer! Apply now! Learn more from our website (link in commnets below!)