6015 Willow (Canada)

US PREMIERE  This is the story of a community, a house and a long weekend. Not just a music documentary, it's a snapshot of the city's vibrant independent music scene at its most intimate. In a house that has long functioned as a hub for creativity in the city, bands fill every room, from the bathroom to the attic, from Dog Day and North Of America to The Stolen Minks and The Just Barelys. Over 20 Halifax bands over three days. (82 min., DigiBeta)

CHICAGO PREMIERE Largo has gained a reputation among performers and fans as a place where what's on stage truly matters. Eschewing flashy MTV-style lensing or editing, the film Largo places its focus squarely on the musicians and comedians onstage, allowing the performances to truly shine through. Andrew Bird, Fiona Apple, and Sarah Silverman. (112 min., HDCAM)

CHICAGO PREMIERE  Working with a crew of high school students from the
nonprofit group Project Moonshine, director Michael Albright finally gives one of the greatest bands in history the concert film/doc they deserve. Shot during a 2006 show in Reno, the film combines candid backstage interviews with band members and stellar performance footage. (82 min., DigiBeta)

WORLD PREMIERE  Musician Martin Atkins (Public Image Ltd., Pigface) heads to Beijing to explore the Chinese underground music scene and gets more than he bargained for, facing censorship and other interference as he attempts to pull off a five-day music fest that ends, after a great deal of difficulty, in his 2007 China Dub Soundsystem album. (53 min., DVD)
- DIRECTOR MARTIN ATKINS IN PERSON!

CHICAGO PREMIERE  A sitar player from Texas who became the first Westerner to compete in and win the Sri Mahendra Bhatt Music Competition in Rajasthan, Andrew Mendelson takes us along as he returns to India to compete in the Tournament of Champions, the Sur Sadak, but discovers that his Western identity is in direct conflict with his desire to gain acceptance in the world of Indian classical music. (82 min., DigiBeta)

Neil Innes refuses to be famous, despite writing and performing with Monty Python, being a Rutle, writing a song with Oasis, and generally being one of the best musical satirists around. The Seventh Python follows him as he braves the wilds of Hollywood, the birthplace of the fame he's been avoiding his whole life. Featuring Monty Python, Matt Groening, and Aimee Mann. (92 min., DigiBeta)
- DIRECTOR BURT KEARNS AND PRODUCER BRETT HUDSON IN PERSON!

CHICAGO PREMIERE  Cajun music ian and instrument maker Leo Abshire has played for royalty, presidents, and the Olympics, but most people have never heard of him--until now. This intimate biography traces his history as a musician and oil worker against the larger backdrop of the Cajun tradition. (58 min., DVD)
- DIRECTORS CYNDI MORAN & ERIC SCHOLL IN PERSON!

US PREMIERE Eight fortysomething Italians demonstrate the meaning of
the word "fan" (and its origins in "fanatic") with their decades-long obsession with the Rolling Stones. Will they achieve their lifelong dreams of meeting their idols in the flesh? Featuring never-before-seen footage of a 1973 Stones concert in Milan. (68 min., DigiBeta)

US PREMIERE  The Wentus Blues Band has been kicking it old school for the past 20 years, working with such blues legends as Louisiana Red, Eddie Kirkland, Mick Taylor, and Eric Bibb. This film is an exciting mixture of earth-shaking concert footage, featuring many of the musicians they've worked with along the way, and backstage life as Scandinavia's premiere blues experience looks back over its storied history. (84 min., DVD)
- PRODUCER/FOUNDER ROBBAN HAGNÄS IN PERSON!

WORLD PREMIERE Jazz legend Pat Martino lost his memory and his playing ability after brain surgery but fought back, relearning his music by listening to his old records. The film follows director Ian Knox and renowned neuropsychologist Paul Broks as they trace Martino's comeback while exploring the mysteries of memory and musical talent. (82 min., BetaSP)

CHICAGO PREMIERE  Brooklyn DIY pioneer Todd Patrick, unhappy with how corporate the South by Southwest Film and Music Festival has become, loads some of his favorite indie bands into a van and sets off across the country to do an outdoor concert featuring over 100 bands, including Matt and Kim, Mika Miko, The Deathset, Team Robespierre, Dan Deacon, Juiceboxxx, and High Places. (62 min., DVCAM)

US PREMIERE A window into a culture most people know nothing about, this minimalist documentary eschews talking-head interviews and didacticism and lets the music and visuals speak for themselves. It revels in the vibrant color, movement, and music that thrive in the forbidding landscape. And you've never seen anything like the snake dance. (58 min., miniDV)

CHICAGO PREMIERE For centuries since they arrived from Africa, the Sidi community in western India have struggled against disctimination and indifference, relying on their devotional music for identity and stability. As the Sidi Goma musical group grows in popularity, will they be able to maintain their cultural identity? (60 min., DVCAM)

CHICAGO PREMIERE Brancaleone explores the struggles of working-class bands in the Motor City. When the labels come looking for "the next big thing" they bring with them not only the answer to every band's rock 'n' roll dreams but a reminder--for every band to get "signed" there are a thousand who don't. Featuring Kid Rock and the Howling Diablos. (108 min., DVCAM)
-DIRECTOR ANTHONY BRANCALEONE IN PERSON!

MIDWEST PREMIERE Hundreds of thousands of people saw The Remains in concert in 1966, but the Boston quartet was overshadowed by the headliner—the Beatles on their second US tour. But what would have happened if they had stuck together after coming to the brink of rock greatness instead of breaking up and going their separate ways? Forty years later, they regroup to share their memories and rock out one more time. (65 min., HDCAM)

US PREMIERE  A song, a super 8 reel, one (or some) face(s).
Portraits of people taken in a same space: space of listening, space of black&white. In this space can go together the fantasies of the model and the filmmaker. (43 min., DVD)
-DIRECTOR SHANTI MASUD IN PERSON!

CHICAGO PREMIERE! Examination of music and culture of traditional forró musicians as famed French accordionist Richard Galliano travels to Brazil to perform with his childhood idols.

US PREMIERE  Inspired by an old gramophone record, director Jan Bosdriesz went looking for the Russian/Romanian singer Pyort Leshchenko (1908-1954) but discovered his own family history. (100 min., DigiBeta)

US PREMIERE  In 1992, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, lead singer of the Gun Club, was living in London with no label, no money, and little prospects for a comeback. Director Henri-Jean Debon’s painfully candid interviews, shot in unflattering closeup on grainy 16mm film, paint a bleak portrait of a man with great talent but little hope. With Nick Cave. (43 min., DVCAM)

CHICAGO PREMIERE Dex Romweber, frontman for psychobilly pioneers the Flat Duo Jets, appears as two people: a rough-living young rocker in grainy black and white footage from the Jets' prime, and a quieter, middle-aged music legend in color video of his comeback with his sister Sarah in the Dex Romweber duo. With Neko Case, Exene Cervenka, and Jack White. (87 min., DVD)
-DEX ROMWEBER I N PERSON!