Sidewalk Film brings The Experimenter to Birmingham for Science on Screen discussion

Sidewalk Film gave Birmingham a sharp Science on Screen pairing on June 23, screening The Experimenter at Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema and following it with Catherine Wright’s discussion, “Torture: All the Cool Kids are Doing it. But Why?” The setup was exactly the kind of repertory-night move that rewards moviegoers who want more than a seat and a screen.

The 2015 film centered on psychologist Stanley Milgram’s 1961 obedience experiments, the ones that used electric shock to test how willing ordinary people were to follow authority. Science on Screen describes the movie as a true-story account of those experiments and the public outcry they set off, which made the post-screening conversation feel built for questions about compliance, ethics and the limits of obedience.

Wright was a strong choice to lead it. Sidewalk identifies her as the organization’s director of development, and her background stretches from a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the College of Charleston to a Master of Arts in Anthropology from the University of Alabama. She has taught anthropology at Jefferson State Community College since 2010, did fieldwork in Fiji focused on ethnoarchaeology, and based her thesis research on bone fracture patterns. That mix of psychology, anthropology and classroom experience gave the discussion real weight instead of the usual after-show filler.

The event also fit neatly into Sidewalk’s larger programming identity. The organization places Science on Screen inside its After the Credits series, which is built around post-film discussions with filmmakers and subject-matter experts, and says the national Science on Screen program began in 2005 at Coolidge Corner Theatre with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Sidewalk’s cinema itself includes two state-of-the-art theaters, one equipped for hybrid meetings and live-stream events, and the broader 2026 festival slate is set to include more than 200 films along with Q&As, panels, workshops, networking events and parties. For Birmingham filmgoers, The Experimenter was not just a screening. It was a one-night chance to watch a provocative movie and then immediately unpack it with someone who could take the conversation well beyond the credits.