August 25, 2010

Dive! Download image.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The lineup is set for the Southern Circuit Film Screening series presented by UAB's Alys Stephens Center, and first up is an award-winning independent film about food waste and dumpster diving: "Dive!"

Join fans of film as UAB's Alys Stephens Center screens some of this year's finest independent movies. Each filmmaker will be present for the screening of their movie and will participate in a Q&A with the audience after the film. Screenings of the award-winning films will take place throughout the season. Films to be screened this year include: "Dive!" Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2010; "Burning in the Sun" Thursday, Nov. 18, 2010; "Abel Raises Cain" Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011; "Awake, My Soul" Tuesday, March 8, 2011; and "Prodigal Sons" Tuesday, April 19, 2011.

According to the film summary, the premise of "Dive!" is that grocery stores around the country are filling their dumpsters with thousands of pounds of good, edible food that could be eaten by people who typically go hungry. Follow filmmaker Jeremy Seifert and his friends as they "dumpster dive" in the alleys and gated garbage receptacles of supermarkets in Los Angeles. In the process they uncover thousands of dollars of food and an ugly truth about waste in the United States: grocery stores know they are wasting food and most refuse to do anything about it. The documentary's makers state the film is "equal parts entertainment, guerrilla journalism and call to action." Tickets are $12; call 205-975-2787 or go to www.AlysStephens.org.

Burning in the Sun. Download image.

Southern Circuit is the nation's only regional tour of independent filmmakers, providing communities with an interactive way of experiencing independent film. The Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers is a program of South Arts. The screenings are supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Southern Circuit Film Screening schedule, presented by UAB's Alys Stephens Center: 

"Burning in the Sun," 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 18, at UAB's Alys Stephens Center, 1200 10th Ave. South. Daniel Dembele, 26 and of West African and European descent, returns to Mali, his homeland, with the dream of starting a local business building solar panels, the first for the sun-drenched nation. Daniel's goal is to electrify the households of rural communities, 99 percent of which live without power. The film addresses controversial stances on climate change, poverty and African self-sufficiency, according to the film's press materials. Directed/ produced by Cambria Matlow.

Abel Raises Cain. Download image.

"Abel Raises Cain," 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011, at UAB's Alys Stephens Center, 1200 10th Ave. South. This film is "an unprecedented glimpse into the life and bizarre career of infamous underground media prankster, Alan Abel," according to the filmmaker. "Abel Raises Cain" takes the audience on a roller coaster ride through the myriad elaborate hoaxes and schemes that Abel pulled off over 50 years, all of which were designed to provoke and amuse while at the same time make people question everything that they see, hear and read. His daughter tells her account of having a lovable but slightly demented prankster for a father. Directed by Jenny Cain.

"Awake, My Soul," 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 8, 2011, at UAB's Alys Stephens Center, 1200 10th Ave. South. This feature documentary explores the history, music and traditions of Sacred Harp singing, the oldest surviving American music, according to the film's press summary. While often linked only to its history (the songs were used in the recent historical films "Cold Mountain" and "Gangs of New York") this haunting music has survived more than 200 years tucked away from sight in the rural South, where in old wooden country churches, devoted singers break open The Sacred Harp, a shape note hymnal first published in Georgia in 1844. Directed and produced by Matt Hinton.

Awake My Soul. Download image.

"Prodigal Sons," 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 19, 2011, at UAB's Alys Stephens Center, 1200 10th Ave. South. Returning home to a small town in Montana for her high school reunion, filmmaker Kimberly Reed hopes for reconciliation with her long-estranged adopted brother, Marc. But along the way she uncovers stunning revelations, including his blood relationship with two Hollywood legends, intense sibling rivalries and unforeseeable twists of plot and gender that force them to face challenges no one could imagine, according to the film's press description. Directed and produced by Reed.

About UAB's Alys Stephens Center

Prodigal Sons. Download image.

The Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center, part of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, is one of the Southeast's premier performing arts centers, hosting the best in international, national and local performance. Home to the UAB departments of theatre and music and the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, the ASC also presents its own season, bringing the world's best music, dance, theater, comedy and family entertainment to Alabama.