Selma residents enjoy award-winning films at Selma Cinema Festival, photo gallery

Selma residents were able to enjoy some award-winning international films at the Selma Cinema Festival April 3 through April 5 at Walton Theater.

 The film festival and competition were sponsored by Foot Soldiers Park in Selma. The Selma Cinema Festival was created to shine a light on the voices, stories and truths that define Selma’s ongoing legacy.

Winners of the film competition were announced at a ceremony on April 5. Winners were: Best International Short (Film), Khasak (Iran, 13 mins.), by Director Javad Gholamnejad Jaberi; Best Social Justice Short, 51^st State (26:45mins), by Director Hannah Rosenzweig; Best Alabama Short Film, Revolution of Joy (22:56), by Director McKinnon Maddox; Best Feature Film, A Walk Along the Borne (Spain, 1h52), by Director Nick Igea; and Best U.S. Short Room For Dessert (18:53), by New Orleans director Pamela Davis-Noland.

Young filmmakers from Selma were highlighted for their work with the Alabama School Films. The Best Buy Teen Tech Center’s “Emerging Storyteller Award” went to Jacion Hunter,

Terence Davis and Javeon Shelton. The “Foot Soldier Rising” Award went to Robert Lytle, Jaden Kim and Jalen Kim.

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Among the films shown at the festival were Freedom’s Path and Out of Competition, a film produced by Teen Tech Best Buy and members of the Foot Soldier’s Park National Youth Advisory Board. 

Films were shown at the Walton Theater, and receptions were held at Arts Revive and the St. James Hotel. Students from Selma High School, Bruce K. Craig and Meadowview Elementary School attended some of the screenings. 

Founders of the Selma Cinema Festival are Jo Ann Bland, COO of Foot Soldiers Park; Manuel Roman, a filmmaker from Washington, D.C.; and Bernard Gilhodes, a filmmaker, screenwriter, photographer and producer from France.

The festival’s jury/judges were Tony Award winner B.K. Fulton, the president & CEO of Soulidifly Productions; Omar Turner, the CEO of Binns Media Group; Katie Fernandez, the senior director/development lead for ESPN; Loki Mulholland, a filmmaker and producer; and Donovan Duncan, board chairman of Foot Soldiers Park and executive vice president of Urban Strategies, Inc.