DOWNLOAD your copy of the schedule today!

Feature films include:

General Orders #9, Awarded for its visionary cinematography, GENERAL ORDERS No. 9 breaks from the constraints of the documentary form as it contemplates the signs of loss and change in the American South;

Prairie Love, From the harsh Midwestern frozen plains, comes this wonderfully bizarre but heartwarming look at three people searching for love and self discovery in the oddest ways.

Dear God No!, A brand new biker/horror/sexploitation feature written & directed by exploitation aficionado James Anthony Bickert. Shot entirely on SUPER 16MM Fuji film and using equipment from the era, DEAR GOD NO! is a drive-in & grindhouse lover’s dream;

Wrestling for Jesus, A documentary about Timothy who was born in Mobile, AL and grew up a wrestling fanatic. After moving to South Carolina, Timothy started a Christian wrestling organization. His goal is to use wrestling to evangelize his neighbors. However his passion and vision for his ministry are tested when his personal life begins to disintegrate. Wrestling for Jesus is a raw and honest all-access pass into the two worlds of independent wrestling and religion in the rural South.

The Reconstruction of Asa Carter, Forrest Carter, best-selling author of The Outlaw Josey Wales and The Education of Little Tree, was an exalted Cherokee hero of New Age wisdom. As a leader in the Native American cultural revival of the 1970′s, Forrest touched millions of readers with his gentle and earthy tales of Indian life. Twelve years after his death, however, the public learned that Forrest had a hidden past. Forrest Carter was actually Asa ‘Ace’ Cater, violent Ku Klux Klansman and Alabama Governor George Wallace’s principal speechwriter; author of the infamous 1963 inaugural address, ‘Segregation Now! Segregation Tomorrow! Segregation Forever!’;

Man in the Glass: The Dale Brown Story, is a feature documentary that tells the compelling and inspiring story of Dale Brown, the legendary LSU basketball coach (1972-1997). The film boasts an all-star cast including Matthew McConaughey, Shaquille O’Neal, John Wooden, Dick Vitale and Tim Brando. The film chronicles his battles with the NCAA, his successful campaign to have a prisoner released and ultimately pardoned from Angola State Penitentiary, his efforts on behalf of native Americans and his life-long commitment to his players. This is not the story of a basketball coach; this is the story of an amazing and unique man who happened to coach basketball;

Better Than Something, is a feature documentary about the controversial and prolific garage rock icon Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr, better known to the world as Jay Reatard. This intimate portrait, captured just months before his untimely passing, brings us incredibly close to Jay’s complicated punk-rock world in Memphis, Tennessee. BETTER THAN SOMETHING eloquently interweaves cinéma vérité, interviews, and archival concert performances, and features scenes from an insightful and candid week spent with Jay, who reveals personal childhood stories and the struggles of life in Memphis;

Disabled but Able to Rock, Meet Danger Woman, the Songbird of Justice that fights against the three Tri-Phobes: Homophobia, Race-ophobia, and Disable-phobia. Her Karaoke singing destroys her enemies while delighting fans and a curious public. This character study follows her over a 13-year period and reveals a single woman’s struggle with autism, a tragic family history, and societal stigmas both real and imagined that paint the picture of a person that just wants to be perceived as ‘normal’;

Man of Deeds, Born into the chaos of the French Revolution, Mathias Loras would come to develop a vision for a state of spirituality in the New World that few dare dream. Brought up in an elegant, bourgeois family he would eventually become a missionary assigned to a remote outpost in the frontier territory of Iowa. There he would sow the seeds of the church to rough miners and farmers, while battling the unending hardships of life on edge of civilization.

The festival will also feature special film events:

Kevin, In Austin, TX in the early ’90s, musician Kevin Gant was the Duplass Brothers’ hero. They reveled in Kevin’s exploratory musical style and playful spirituality. But in 1995, Kevin mysteriously disappeared. Jay Duplass’ documentary debut explores who Kevin is, how he lost his inspiration, and what he must do to get it back. Kevin Gant will be here for a very special Q&A;

Missing Pieces, Special preview screening by Birmingham filmmaker. This is a story about a man who’s lost everything and his misguided attempts to put it back together. “Missing Pieces” is an emotional enigma about love and loneliness…and a kidnapping. Through interwoven, poignant vignettes, this multi-plot tale unfolds and untangles into a truly unique and heartfelt love story about finding hope when all is lost;

Barbeque and Bluegrass, Three unique short films about the history and romance of bluegrass, plus a plate of barbeque. What could be better?

Camp Films, world premiere of Monday Mayhem and All 4 One, the two short films made by Space 301 summer campers.

Short Films for the festival include: On a Roll, Jobless, Divination, What Do You Know?, Slick, and many more.

Passes for the festival will be available starting October 14, 2011, at the downtown office and online. Weekend passes will be $30 and individual film tickets will be $5.

The South Alabama Film Festival is a part of the Mobile Arts Council made possible by the generous support of the Mobile Public Library, The Crescent Theater, The Center for the Living Arts, The Bike Shop, The Fort Conde Inn, The Hampton Downtown.

Locally produced spy documentary showing Saturday

Two weeks ago, Mobile filmmakers were given 48 hours to create five-minute short films inspired by the original sounds of local musicians including El Cantador, Port Wine Stain and Hibachi Stranglers. Friday evening, beginning at 6 p.m., the eight submitted shorts will be screened and judged, with winners announced at evening’s end.

Beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday, local filmmakers will screen all or part of their projects currently in production. Feather Head Productions, filmmaker Margaret Broach, and Fighting Owls Productions will be on hand to show their films, answer questions and speak about the art of filmmaking and film festival experience from around the country.

Sunday’s events also begin at 2 p.m., and will feature a bonus screening of Friday’s scramble shorts as well as a question and answer session with Chris Cash, associate producer of the award-winning, and locally produced, film “Residue.” Finally, local filmmaker Carson Kennedy will discuss his upcoming projects, as well as the films being shown Sunday night as part of the Geronimo! film expo held at the Alabama Music Box on Dauphin Street. Kennedy programmed Sunday night’s schedule, as well as the Geronimo! schedule at the event held in January.

This weekend of films and filmmakers is made possible by Arts Alive!, the Mobile Arts Council and the new South Alabama Film Festival. Born from the South Alabama Film Group, SoAL Film Fest was created to showcase the growing regional independent film community, helping local filmmakers get their films shown in support of all things cinema. Various celebrations of cinema will be scheduled throughout 2009, culminating with the three-day festival this fall.

November 6-8, film fans from across the country will unite in Mobile for feature films and shorts at these local venues: the Crescent Theater, the Gulf Coast Exploreum, 5 Rivers Delta Resource Center and Bernheim Hall at the Ben May Main Library. SoAL Film Fest is sponsored by the Mobile Arts Council, Crescent Theater, Gulf Coast Exploreum, Look & Listen Home Theater, Wine Loft, BNI Copy Shop and the Mobile Public Library. Look & Listen is providing all audio and video equipment for the film programming during Arts Alive! weekend.

Join SoAL Film Fest on May 11 at the Wine Loft for the Mobile Arts Council film scramble DVD release party, featuring the best of the scramble shorts from the last two years.

For more information about SoAL Film Fest, the Mobile Arts Council and Arts Alive! weekend, visit southalabamafilmfestival.org, mobilearts.org or artsalivemobile.com, or call 251.490.4356.