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DJD Theater Productions & 3 ASFA Graduates in Sidewalk Film Festival

 
ASFA's Dorothy Jemison Day Theater has two films from its ArtWorks series that were accepted into Sidewalk. The films were made last year as part of the ArtWorks digital performance series in response to the pandemic. A team from ASFA and the DJD Theater commissioned artists to produce original performances that were turned into short films. 
 
 
Birmingham filmmaker and videographer Myles Cain, ASFA Theatre Arts Chair and DJD Manager John Manzelli, DJD Theater Tech Director and Theatre Arts Department faculty Laura Prim, and ASFA Marketing Coordinator Kelsey Crafton created the films with the artists.
 
 
Suite for Solo Cello: Alabama Climbs by Hellen Weberpal runs for 10-minutes as part of the Music Videos segment of the festival. Weberpal is a cellist with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and a rock climber who uses her music to highlight the beautiful outdoors that Alabama offers. The video will show at 10:20 p.m. Saturday, August 28, at Boutwell Auditorium. 
 
Graffica by Yogi Dada is a 15-minute documentary that explores the creation of a black and white series of art, which tells the story of a black girl growing up in upstate New York who fancied herself to become an artist one day. This film 
will show at 5:10 p.m. Saturday, August 28, at the Birmingham Museum of Art. 
 
 
ASFA's  2021 Theatre Arts graduates Miriam Anderson and Kelan Millican ​will premiere their documentary Terra  at 10 a.m. Saturday, August 28, during the Teen Shorts portion of Birmingham's Sidewalk Film Festival. Miriam directed the five-minute short drama, and Kelan served as director of photography for their film, which is part of the festival's COVID Teen Video Challenge. Terra  tells the story of a young girl, coping with the pressures to remain productive during the nationwide coronavirus quarantine, despite the overwhelming emotional stress. Miriam is studying creative media at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, and Kelan is a technical theater student at the University of Alabama in Birmingham.
 
ASFA's 2021 Creative Writing graduate Grace Sullivan also will premiere her short narrative film Standard, which she directed. The seven-minute flick tells the story of a high school student who tries to finish a test despite the constant interruptions of voices in her head. Grace is currently studying film at Temple University in Philadelphia.
 
Both films will appear at the Birmingham Museum of Art between 10 a.m. and 11:25 a.m.