Sidewalk Film Center Adds The Christophers, Art, Forgery and Family Tension

Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema has put The Christophers into its spring run, giving Birmingham another current art-house title built to spark debate as much as sell tickets. Steven Soderbergh’s 100-minute film, written by Ed Solomon and released in the United States by NEON, centers on a once-famous London pop-art figure whose estranged children recruit an art restorer and former forger to help get at eight unfinished canvases hidden in his home studio.

That mix of inheritance games, forgery and family resentment gives the film a natural fit at Sidewalk, Alabama’s best-known indie venue and one of the few places in town where a movie about authenticity in art can feel like part of the larger experience. The cast adds another layer of pull: Ian McKellen, Michaela Coel, Jessica Gunning and James Corden give the film enough star power to reach casual moviegoers, while the Soderbergh-Solomon pairing makes it a stronger sell for the regulars who track contemporary arthouse releases closely.

The Christophers premiered as a Special Presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2025, where TIFF described it as a chamber comedy about art, commerce and long-brewing resentments. NEON’s synopsis places Julian Sklar back in the center of London’s art scene, tracing his breakout to the 1960s creative explosion and setting Lori inside a scheme to pose as a prospective assistant so the family can reach the canvases and secure an inheritance. It is the kind of premise that lands naturally with viewers who like their movies sharp, funny and a little morally slippery.

The booking also says something about where Sidewalk’s spring slate is headed. The film is showing multiple times in late April 2026, not as a one-night curiosity but as part of a sustained run of contemporary programming. That matters in Birmingham, where Sidewalk’s calendar does more than fill a room: it keeps the city’s independent-film culture active between festivals and gives audiences a steady reason to show up for new work that multiplexes are unlikely to make room for.

Sidewalk is also folding accessibility into the experience. The theater says all Wednesday screenings of The Christophers will feature on-screen captions when made available by the distributor, and it notes that Wednesday screenings before 4 p.m. come with $8 matinee tickets, free coffee and 10 percent off concessions. As a KultureCity certified venue with captioning and assistive listening devices, Sidewalk is pairing adventurous programming with practical access, making The Christophers less like a random listing and more like part of a broader push to keep Birmingham’s arthouse scene current, welcoming and in motion.