Advertisement

Whole lotta rock docs: Sound Unseen fest returns this week with films on Sonics, Radio Birdman

Obscure names fill the festival's 19th annual schedule, also including profiles of Van Duren, Mayhem, Agnostic Front and Milford Graves.

November 12, 2018 at 5:14PM
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
"Boom! A Film About the Sonics" screens Friday as part of the 19th annual Sound Unseen festival.
"Boom! A Film About the Sonics" screens Friday as part of the 19th annual Sound Unseen festival. (Riemenschneider, Chris/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Between "Twenty Feet from Stardom," "Searching for Sugar Man" and "Anvil! The Story of Anvil," many of the most popular rock documentaries of the past decade have been about performers who were far from popular themselves. So it should be a major selling point that a lot of the movies featured in this week's 19th annual Sound Unseen film festival are based around acts that even the nerdiest record store clerks might have to look up.

Scheduled Wednesday through Sunday primarily at the Trylon Cinema and Bryant-Lake Bowl in Minneapolis, Sound Unseen 19 features new documentaries on Australian punk band Radio Birdman, Seattle garage-rockers the Sonics, New York hardcore pioneers Agnostic Front ("The Godfathers of Hardcore"), Memphis-based Big Star cohort Van Duren, Swedish rapper Silvana, Norwegian black-metal band Mayhem ("Lords of Chaos") and New York jazz drummer Milford Graves. Those are in addition to a 10th anniversary screening of "The Story of Anvil" on opening night Wednesday to seemingly help set the mood/mold.

Even the biggest name among the Sound Unseen documentary subjects, the late, great Teddy Pendergrass, is something of an unsung hero. The other best-known names on the schedule are probably record labels and not record makers: New movies on Blue Note and Wax Trax! are also part of the mix.

Other documentaries on the schedule include profiles of early African American TV show host ("Mr. Soul!"), Patti Smith-affiliated artist and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe ("Mapplethorpe"), Broadway record collector and Letterman TV staffer Steve Young ("Bathubs Over Broadway"), recently shuttered Chicago nightclub Neo ("2350 Last Call: The Neo Story") and modern women blues artists ("Shake Sister Shake"). That's in addition to the festival's usual mix of music-centric original feature films and shorts.

Billed as "one of the 25 coolest film festivals in the world" by Moviemaker Magazine in 2016, Sound Unseen has continued strong even after its director, Jim Brunzell, moved to Texas to helm aGLIFF (All Genders, Lifestyles & Idenitites Film Festival). He runs the local fest and the monthly Sound Unseen screenings from Austin with help from local Uptown Theatre staffer and musician Rich Gill.

You can see full synopses of all the movies and buy advance tickets to the screenings at SoundUnseen.com. Here's the full schedule for the week. The asterisk indicates the director or someone involved in the film's making will be at the screening.

Wednesday, Nov. 14

  • Shake Sister Shake - 6:30PM / Bryant Lake Bowl
    • Bathtubs Over Broadway - 7PM / Trylon Cinema*
      • 2350 Last Call: The Neo Story - 8PM* / VFW Uptown*
        • Anvil! The Story of Anvil! - 9PM / Trylon Cinema
          • What It Takes: film en douze tableaux - 9:15PM / Bryant Lake Bowl

            Thursday, Nov. 15

            Advertisement
            Advertisement
            • Up to Snuff - 6:30PM / Bryant Lake Bowl*
              • Industrial Accident: The Story of Wax Trax! Records - 7PM / Trylon Cinema (SOLD-OUT)
                • Silvana - 9PM / Trylon Cinema

                  Friday, Nov. 16

                  • Boom! A Film About the Sonics - 6:30PM / Bryant Lake Bowl*
                    • Mr. Soul! - 7PM / Trylon Cinema*
                      • Mapplethorpe - 9:30PM / Trylon Cinema

                        Saturday, Nov. 17

                        • Tomorrow Never Knows - 12:30PM/ Trylon Cinema*
                          • Waiting: The Van Duren Story - 2:45PM/ Trylon Cinema*
                            • Descent Into the Maelstrom: The Radio Birdman Story - 5PM / Trylon Cinema*
                              • Teddy Pendergrass: If You Don't Know Me - 6:00PM / Bryant Lake Bowl*
                                • The Godfathers of Hardcore - 7:30PM / Trylon Cinema*
                                  • Lords of Chaos - 9:45PM / Trylon Cinema

                                    Sunday, Nov. 18

                                    • Saints Rest (w/ The Wedding Song) - 11AM / Trylon Cinema*
                                      • Milfrod Graves Full Mantis - 1PM / Trylon Cinema
                                        • Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes - 3PM / Trylon Cinema
                                          • Taking Off - 5PM / Trylon Cinema
                                            • Sound Unseen Shorts Program - 5:15PM / Bryant Lake Bowl*
                                              • Icepick to the Moon - 8PM / Bryant Lake Bowl*
                                                • Industrial Accident: The Story of Wax Trax! Records - 9PM / Trylon Cinema
                                                  about the writer

                                                  about the writer

                                                  Chris Riemenschneider

                                                  Critic / Reporter

                                                  Chris Riemenschneider has been covering the Twin Cities music scene since 2001, long enough for Prince to shout him out during "Play That Funky Music (White Boy)." The St. Paul native authored the book "First Avenue: Minnesota's Mainroom" and previously worked as a music critic at the Austin American-Statesman in Texas.

                                                  See Moreicon

                                                  More from No Section

                                                  See More

                                                  Kyiv was targeted with waves of drone and missile attacks overnight into Friday in the largest aerial assault since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began more than three years ago, officials said, amid a renewed Russian push to capture more of its neighbor's land.

                                                  Advertisement
                                                  Advertisement

                                                  To leave a comment, .

                                                  Advertisement