Spent a couple lovely days in Birmingham, Alabama. Was brought to the Birmingham Sidewalk Cinematheque for a special screening by its director, Erik Jambor, seen here in his office.

Spent my first evening in town having dinner and drinks with Erik, local producer Alan Hunter and documentary filmmaker Celia Carey,

who, unlike myself, actually leaves her own neighborhood to make her documentaries. She's produced docs about archeologists in the Andes and about an expedition across the Bering Strait. After dinner, Celia and I checked out a good band called the Damnwells at the legendary Birmingham club The Nick.

The next morning, Erik picked me up at 7:15 and took me to a local TV station,

where I was to be interviewed on a morning show called Good Day, Alabama. Thanks to Erik for taking these two pictures:

Anchor Rick Journey had done his research about the film, and we had a nice chat about "Nothing So Strange."

I walked around Birmingham's downtown for much of the day. A very quiet downtown.

Then Celia picked me up and took me to the Alabama School of Fine Arts,

where I watched her give a presentation about documentary filmmaking to some eager young film students, many of whom later came to see "Nothing So Strange."

And then, after a quick dinner, during which Celia told me more stories from her fascinating career, it was time to go to the screening, which took place at the WorkPlay Theater.

I took this blurry photo from the stage as Erik introduced me. The WorkPlay is much like the Enzian Theater in Orlando, where the film screened last year. Rather than auditorium seating, it's more like a club.

Then the film screened, we had a good Q&A, I did an interview with the website fleabomb.com, hung out for a bit, and the next morning I flew home.

Best,
Brian Flemming
doc@nothingsostrange.com
Brian Flemming's Weblog

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