2 of Lauren Musgrove’s projects screen at Sidewalk Film Festival

For the eighth year in a row, filmmaker and new Grady College faculty member Lauren Musgrove had projects shown at Sidewalk Film Festival in Birmingham, Alabama. 

Musgrove, an assistant professor in the Department of Entertainment and Media Studies, had two projects with her company, Purple Magnet Productions, screen at Sidewalk: a music video for the song “Hold on Savannah” by Nashville artist Charlie Argo, directed and co-produced by Maggie Brown, and a short film “Yellow Wallpaper,” a Planet Froth film directed by Ricky Rhodes, based off the short story with the same name by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. 

The “Hold on Savannah” music video was co-produced and edited by Musgrove. Purple Magnet was in association with the production of “Yellow Wallpaper,” and Musgrove was an editor of the film. The film premiered at the Oscar and Bafta qualifying Los Angeles Shorts International Film Festival on July 24, 2023.

Both projects were shot in Alabama, but her production company, Purple Magnet, is now based in Georgia. She founded the company in 2020 with Brown, who was formerly Musgrove’s undergraduate classmate at the University of Alabama. 

“I tell all of my students here that story now,” said Musgrove. “‘Look around you, these people could be your forever collaborators!’” 

Over the past three years, Musgrove and Brown have produced eight music videos, numerous short films and three features. They’re currently in pre-production on a documentary feature. 

“We founded the company because we had a slate of music videos that we were doing,” Musgrove explained. “With music videos, it’s always really fun to collaborate with musicians and come up with a vision together. You can be more experimental. I really like that about them, that you can be more fluid with the storytelling and not be so plot-driven.” 

Musgrove is an eight-time Southeast Emmy-winning filmmaker with an MFA in Film and Media Art from Emerson College in Boston. She has a number of productions to her credit including serving as co-producer and director of “People of Alabama” documentary video series which received an INMA Global Media Award, and “A Day in the Life of America,” which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and is available on PBS. 

But, as a native Southerner, the Sidewalk Film Festival holds a special place in her heart. 

“Sidewalk was the first festival that I was ever a filmmaker at,” said Musgrove. “I think I just fell in love with it. Sidewalk does such a good job making filmmakers feel welcomed, appreciated and valued. I always want to go. Sidewalk has now grown beyond just the festival. It has become a cultural staple for Alabama and the South as a whole.”

Neither “Hold on Savannah,” nor “Yellow Wallpaper” are currently publicly available, although a trailer for “Yellow Wallpaper” is available on Planet Froth’s website. “Hold on Savannah” will be released on YouTube in October of this year.