Jacksonville, AL –Per the Director of Strategic Communications for JSU, Buffy Lockette, JSU shared the news that a short movie created by JSU faculty and students was selected for the 25th anniversary of the Sidewalk Film Festival taking place in Birmingham’s downtown theatre district from August. 21 – 27. The 16-minute “Birdsock Academy” will be shown in the category of Alabama Narrative Shorts on Sunday, August. 27 beginning at 10:00 a.m. in the BJCC Theatre. A limited number of tickets to the festival are available on the internet to those who would like to go to. Filmed with the look that of mock documentaries or mockumentary, it narrates the tale of a fictional school established in the name of Malcom T. Birdsock who seeks to make money off his own incompetence. One of the recent graduates boasts, “There’s no shame in the mediocrity of life.. Being unimportant or inadequate isn’t just attainable, it provides a chance to live without fear of failure.” The film was written and directed by James Sharpe Watkins, assistant director of film at the university and production, based on screenplay composed by Georgia Vinson and Breanna Epperson. The entire ensemble of the cast and crew comprised Zhane Amari, Tucker Barnett, Emma Bishop, Randal Blades, Brandon Bordeaux, Robert Brandsma, Meghan Brightwell, Garrett Cantrell, Martin Collier, William Duke, Andrew Entrekin, Kaya Hall, Juliana Hastick, Jerreka Henderson, Tim Huddleston, William Jackson, Kayde Jacobs, Samantha Jimenez, Carmen Johnson, Adrian Langston, Hanna Lett, Skyllar Mears, Murchison Murray, Jeffrey Nichols, Molly Page, Leslie Pearce, Timothy Phillips, Merrick Rector, Esther Shull, Grayson Singleton, Lora Spivey, Laniya Walker, Richard Wallace, Kelcy Williams, Caleb Woods and Perissa York. Established in 1998, Sidewalk Film Festival has been praised in Time Magazine in its list of top 10 Film Festivals that are for Everyone Of Us, and in Moviemaker Magazine as one of the top 25 Coolest film festivals around the World and as one of the Twenty Great Film Festivals for First-Time Moviemakers. The festival, which is a non-profit organization, showcases the work of over 250 filmmakers to over 15,000 viewers every year. Find out more on sidewalkfest.com.

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