CONTACT: Roy L. Williams, Director of Public Relations, Birmingham Public Library -- phone: (205) 226-3746, cell: (205) 568-0067, E-mail: rlwilliams@bham.lib.al.us
New Southern Exposure DVDs donated for all 19 Birmingham Public Library locations
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—The Alabama Rivers Alliance and Black Warrior Riverkeeper have partnered to donate to the Birmingham Public Library (BPL) 19 copies of the latest edition of Southern Exposure, a film series educating the public about Alabama’s natural resources.
Each of BPL’s 19 locations will soon have one DVD copy of the 2018 edition of Southern Exposure, a series of documentary shorts on various Alabama environmental topics by independent filmmakers. Read more about the films at southernexposurefilms.org. DVDs of previous Southern Exposure editions are available at all BPL branches thanks to prior donations.
"Clean water and a viable environment are like unto the free flow and access to information,” said Floyd Council, executive director of BPL. “The Birmingham Public Library is honored to participate in this amazing community engagement effort to inform and call everyday people to empowered action. As a major Urban Libraries Council Public Library in the Southeast, we are excited about making the Southern Exposure DVDs available at all of our 19 Library locations."
Sponsored by the Alabama Rivers Alliance and made possible through the support and partnership with environmental and conservation groups across the state, Southern Exposure fellows have the opportunity to create inspiring, captivating films that give viewers a sense of how much Alabama has to offer and the importance of protecting its resources. This innovative summer fellowship brings emerging filmmakers from across the country to tell authentic, engaging stories through short documentary films about Alabama’s environment — and the people who cherish it — from the mountains to the coast.
“We are honored to have these films available to the Birmingham community and beyond through this partnership,” said Cindy Lowry, executive director of Alabama Rivers Alliance. “The messages in these short documentaries are critical to the protection of Alabama's 132,000 miles of rivers and streams, and to the protection of our land and way of life as Alabamians.”
As a result of these poignant stories depicting the triumphs and challenges facing the state, numerous films from past fellowship years have been selected for screening in juried film festivals around the country. Live screenings and online distribution of the films reach a variety of audiences, in Alabama and across the nation, helping Southern Exposure fulfill the mission to spread awareness, appreciation and inspire action on behalf of Alabama’s environment.
“We enthusiastically promoted Southern Exposure with its founder, Southern Environmental Law Center, and are thrilled to maintain that tradition with the Alabama Rivers Alliance,” said Charles Scribner, executive director of Black Warrior Riverkeeper. “It means a lot that anyone can visit any Birmingham Public Library location to borrow the DVDs for personal viewing or an event with their friends, family, church, and school.”