Alabama Rivers Alliance Schedules Southern Exposure Series Screenings Across State

Alabama Rivers Alliance moved its Southern Exposure short documentary series into communities across the state, staging screenings and on-the-ground conversations that bring river issues to local audiences. The touring program showcased films in venues from Mobile Bay to Decatur and Mentone, pairing short docs with Q&A sessions to connect filmmakers, organizers, and residents.

The screenings page lists events and Q&A plans at Crescent Theatre in Mobile Bay, ACA Recital Hall in Decatur as part of the Festival of Cranes, and Moon Lake Library in Mentone among other stops. The organization scheduled events that began around January 20, 2026, and the calendar highlights a January 25 screening in Mentone. Southern Exposure is ARA’s long-running environmental documentary fellowship and touring program; the films were produced through the Southern Exposure Film Fellowship and are now circulating to foster local discussion about waterways, habitat, and policy.

For community groups and venue hosts, the rollout offers practical opportunities. The program invites organizations to host screenings and provides contact details and scheduling information for community presentations at alabamarivers.org/se-screenings/. That makes it straightforward for schools, libraries, watershed groups, and film venues to arrange a showing and follow up with discussion or advocacy actions. For independent filmmakers who participated in the fellowship, the tour gives a chance to screen work in front of engaged, place-based audiences and to receive direct feedback during Q&A sessions.

The screenings aim to do more than show films; they function as organizing moments. Short documentary formats allow tight programming blocks that fit community calendars and local festivals, while post-screening conversations create pathways to volunteer recruitment, river monitoring partnerships, and classroom integration. In Decatur, slotting a Southern Exposure screening into the Festival of Cranes situates river storytelling alongside wildlife and conservation programming, increasing reach for both film and field-based advocates.

This rollout also signals a practical model for community-centered distribution of independent environmental films: use compact programs, collaborate with regional events, and pair screenings with live conversation. Readers who want to attend, host, or bring Southern Exposure work to a classroom or civic meeting should consult the screening page for dates and contact info at alabamarivers.org/se-screenings/. Expect more stops as the tour continues, and plan to use a screening as a local convening tool to keep river concerns in the conversation and to amplify Alabama-made environmental storytelling.