Local filmmakers recognized in Sidewalk Scramble

Published 10:42 am Thursday, March 22, 2018

The Whale Wolves film crew, including Jeff and Ashley Thompson, win the Best Film Jury Award and Best Film Audience Award at the Sidewalk Scramble 48-film challenge in Birmingham. Photo by Casey Engelbrecht

Imagine getting a prop, a line, time period and a genre. 

Now, you have to make a short film written, produced, and edited from concept to completion — all within 48 hours.

That is exactly what teams from Alabama did for the Sidewalk Scramble, including two teams with local ties to St. Clair County.  Each team had to complete a four-minute short film incorporating the time-related prop and line of dialogue provided.

Completed films were shown a premiere screening at the Alabama School of Fine Arts Jemison Day Theatre on March 8. Films were judged for Best Film Jury Prize and Best Film Audience Choice Prize, with the Jury Prize winner accepted into the 2018 Sidewalk Film Festival.

One team took home both coveted awards, The Whale Wolves, consisting of Darrell Nance, Aubrey Beal, John Harris, Brennan Holzer, Matt Russell, David Brim, Tiffany Eichelberger, Jeff Thompson, Ashley Thompson, Matt Smith, and Katherine Smith.

“We won the audience award in our first scramble four years ago and again our third year. That feeling of satisfaction doesn’t change year-to-year,” Jeff Thompson, who is the Director of the Pell City Center for Education and Performing Arts, said. “Validation from your peers is something you always seek when sharing your creativity. But validation from professionals is another story. This is our first Jury Award, and there hasn’t been a day this week that I haven’t gotten out of bed feeling proud of this team and its accomplishment.”

Thompson’s wife, Ashley, created the costumes and makeup for the prehistoric horror film, which Thompson credits with making their film stand out to the judges.

“It’s no small feat to turn a clean-cut software engineer into a cavemen, especially when you only have a couple hours to do it,” Thompson stated.

The team’s film, “Spoils”, was a short film about five cavemen with sinister plans for their prey, but they may not be the ones at the top of the food chain. The prop was a sparkly bow tie and the line of dialogue that must be used was, “It’s about time.”

For the Whale Wolves, this win is another accomplishment in their history together.

Thompson said that he and his team have been working together for four years on a variety of short films and work exceptionally well together. Each member has varying interests, which Thompson says makes it easy to fill roles for a scramble, especially with the challenges of organization in a 48-hour scramble.

“We’ve got some momentum now and will be shooting again in the spring on at least two more projects,” Thompson said. “We’re also negotiating some commercial work in hopes of purchasing better gear. By the end of 2019, I fully expect us to be finished or close to finishing a feature.”

Another local film crew, which includes Austin Nichols and Casey Engelbrecht both of Pell City, received First Runner-Up Audience Choice Award for their film “River Terrace Drive,” a crime-genre set in the 80s.  Their team, Boinko Productions, included director Jack Serra, Jackson Ross, Jordan Hudecz, Steve Ashlee, and cast Charles T. Crepps, Robert Hill, Barbara Kincaid, Claudia Russel, and Nicholas Ferlisi. 

“The Sidewalk Scramble has been a great opportunity for our production company to push ourselves to our limits, and try new things with filmmaking,” said Austin Nichols. “It’s great to see how much the local film community has grown over the years, and I love to see how talented everyone has gotten as we have continued to make films. Anyone that is interested in filmmaking should consider participating in the next scramble this October.”

For more information about the Sidewalk Film Festival or Sidewalk Scramble, visit sidewalkfest.com/festival/.