Posted on September 21, 2004 at 9:34 a.m.
BIRMINGHAM, AL — A short film made by two University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) art students will be shown in competition Saturday, September 25, in Birmingham’s Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival.
Bo Hughins, 23, and Neil Kirkpatrick, 24, both of Birmingham, made the film last spring in a UAB documentary film class. All of the short films made in the class were entered, but to their surprise, only their film was selected for competition, Hughins said. The film competes with other documentary shorts from across the nation.
The six-minute film, “Benching: The Art of Watching Trains,” plays in the Shorts Block No. 4 in the documentary category, at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, September 25, at the McWane Center, 19th Street North between Second and Third avenues north. Student films also are screening earlier that day at noon. More information about the festival is available online at www.sidewalkfest.com.
The film is about local people of all ages and races who watch for graffiti on trains in the Birmingham railroad corridor and who are into the train graffiti culture. Different parts of downtown Birmingham where railroad tracks run are the backdrop for the film. “Benching” means watching for trains that have graffiti on the cars, Kirkpatrick said.
“It’s waiting on trains to come by, watching the art go by,” Kirkpatrick said. “People from all over the country do the graffiti, and as the trains travel, you can see [the work of] artists from Canada, California, Mexico.”
Both students have been into benching for a while and thought it would make a good documentary, Hughins said.
“We thought it would be a good way to turn people on to that part of Birmingham, how the trains and art play a role, along with the abandoned areas,” Hughins said. “Just growing up, I liked hanging out in abandoned buildings, abandoned spaces. I thought it was fun, something to explore, something I didn’t know yet.”
The film was shot over the course of about two months. Some nights they spent all night at the tracks, other times an afternoon. Kirkpatrick said they never trespassed onto the tracks, just filmed alongside.
Hughins is a senior working on his bachelor of fine arts degree. He graduated from Ramsey High School in 1999 and is the son of Liz and Wayne Hughins of Birmingham.
Kirkpatrick is a senior working on his bachelor of fine arts degree. He graduated from Vestavia High School in 1998 and is the son of Cindy Kirkpatrick of Birmingham.