BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) senior, Alan Franks, 22, of Smoke Rise, won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Alabama Documentary at the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival last weekend. Franks won for his short documentary film, “She’s a Lady,” about the historic Lyric Theatre in downtown Birmingham.

“I didn’t expect to get anything for the film,” Franks said. “This is the first film award I’ve gotten, and hopefully it will be the first of many.”

The 20-minute film tells the story of the Lyric Theatre, which opened in 1914 and closed about a half-century later. Franks said he learned about the Lyric in 2004 while producing a short documentary about the Alabama Theatre for a class project in an ethnographic filmmaking course he was taking through the UAB Center for Urban Affairs. The film, “Meet Me at the Alabama,” featured a dedicated group of Alabama Theatre staff and volunteers telling how they saved the movie palace and why historic buildings matter.

“The people at the Alabama Theatre were pleased with the film,” said Franks. “They told me about the Lyric Theatre and asked if I would make a film about its history.”

Franks said he spent a year researching, writing and producing the film.

“The most surprising thing I learned was how nice the venue was and how it attracted A-list stars like Buster Keaton, the Marx Brothers, Mae West and George Burns during the vaudeville days. Many performers went on to become big film stars.”

Following graduation in December, Franks, a civil engineering major, says he plans to study filmmaking.