By Sym Posey | The Birmingham Times
One Alabama-based nonprofit is bringing diversity through film to the state with a very familiar Birmingham resident assisting in its efforts.
The uber-talented Carey Fountain, Director of Programs and Partnership with Foot Soldiers Park, an organization dedicated to honoring unsung heroes of Selma, recently hosted an inaugural Selma Cinema Festival.
Fountain served as director of the three-day film festival and competition earlier this month that was sponsored by Foot Soldiers Park, a Selma-based nonprofit, which helps nurture future generations to fight social injustice
“We had film makers from all over the world to participate,” he said. “It was definitely a team effort to get it off the ground. Overall, I think it set a great precedent to keep building on. The goal is to create film culture.”
But the objective is to be about more than film, he said.
“Art is a tool that can transform and alchemize any situation. We also do an event called ‘Photographic Nights of Selma’ that’s a three-day photography festival showcasing Selma. The winner of that festival of goes to a French Photography Festival. The film festival was like an evolution of what started with that. Through these programs we hope to create a culture of the arts and … hopefully it can help to transform and build Selma.”
The festival was created to shine a light on the voices, stories and truths that define Selma’s ongoing legacy, he said.
“Selma is internationally known [and] has already changed the world. We’ve had people in the film festival and in this photography, festival come and want to make change.”
Selma for its role in the Civil Rights Movement, specifically the Selma to Montgomery Marches in 1965. These marches, which culminated in the Voting Rights Act of 1965, were a pivotal moment in the fight for African American voting rights.
Winners of the film competition announced at a ceremony included: Best International Short (Film), Khasak (Iran), by Director Javad Gholamnejad Jaberi; Best Social Justice Short, 51st State, by Director Hannah Rosenzweig; Best Alabama Short Film, Revolution of Joy), by Director McKinnon Maddox; Best Feature Film, A Walk Along the Borne (Spain), by Director Nick Igea; and Best U.S. Short Room For Dessert, by New Orleans director Pamela Davis-Noland.
Founded by Jo Anna Bland and Kimberly Smitherman, The Foot Soldiers Park works to improve the overall wellbeing of Selma’s underprivileged residents through economic opportunities, developing amenities, resources, and programs.
For more information on the Selma Cinema Festival series of events, visit www.footsoldierspark.org
