NOTE: This ticket is $25 'combo' for both the 7 pm screening of the film and the music that starts at 9 PM. The concert portion is 21 and over. Kids These Days are barely out of high school, but their high-energy combination of pop, funk, jazz, and hip-hop wowed the crowd at Lollapalooza last summer, and they're headling a show at CIMMfest with hip-hop legends Rapper's Delight featuring Wonder Mike and Master Gee, founding members of the Sugarhill Gang. Here's the deal: go see the film I Want My Name Back at 7pm at the Wicker Park Arts Center, where Master Gee and Wonder Mike will do a Q&A. Then, hustle around the corner to the Double Door for Rapper's Delight featuring Wonder Mike and Master Gee at 10pm, followed by Kids These Days at 11pm.

The 2012 Festival Pass gets you everything that CIMMfest has to offer: almost 70 films, almost 20 musical acts, and a handful of afterparties.

It also gets you something you can't have without a pass: access to the Friday night Double Door concert featuring Rapper's Delight with Master Gee and Wonder Mike, founding members of the Sugarhill Gang, as well as a top-secret special guest.

Note that a pass doesn't guarantee you entry to any event, because VIP seating is given on a first-come, first-served basis. Make sure to arrive early!

NOTE: this ticket is ONLY for the music at Double Door starting at 9 PM. If you also want to see the Rapper's Delight film 'I WANT MY NAME BACK', please buy the combo ticket for $25 (saves $5 vs buying film ticket and concert ticket separately). This is a 21 and over show! Kids These Days are barely out of high school, but their high-energy combination of pop, funk, jazz, and hip-hop wowed the crowd at Lollapalooza last summer, and they're headling a show at CIMMfest with hip-hop legends Rapper's Delight featuring Wonder Mike and Master Gee, founding members of the Sugarhill Gang. Rapper's Delight featuring Wonder Mike and Master Gee at 9pm, followed by Kids These Days at 10pm.

Queens of Country (USA, 93 min., Ryan Page & Christopher Pomerenke)
With Lizzy Caplan, Joe Lo Truglio, Matt Walsh, and directors Ryan Page & Christopher Pomerenke

In Ryan Page and Christopher Pomerenke’s (The Heart Is a Drum Machine) hilarious fiction debut, Lizzy Caplan stars as a spacey line-dancing queen who falls in love with the owner of a lost iPod because the music on it touches her soul. This launches a deeply weird plot in which meanie Ron Livingston hires weirdo Maynard James Keenan to pretend to be the iPod’s owner, leading to kidnappings, time travel, doppelgangers, and Jo Lo Truglio in a dress. Hold onto your Stetson, because this comedy is guaranteed to blow your mind.

Following the film will be a Q&A session with the stars, then a concert by an act TBD.

This evening at the Hideout begins with an exclusive work-in-progress screening of the film Don't Follow Me (I'm Lost): A Film about Bobby Bare Jr. at 7pm. Then at 10pm, the Lawrence Peters Outfit takes the stage, followed by Bobby Bare Jr. himself at 11.

For almost twenty years (not counting his beginnings as a Grammy-nominated country star opposite his famous father), Bobby Bare Jr. has been cranking out eclectic, intelligent rock music that ranges from boot-stomping party music to singer-songwriter introspection, first in his band Bare Jr. and lately as a solo artist. “The only real curiosity about Bare’s career to date is that he hasn’t yet become a big name in modern rock.” So observed the Nashville Scene, and we share that perplexity.

Lawrence Peters has also been around, having spent more than two decades as a sideman in too many country and rock bands to list. He formed the Outfit in 2007, blending his love of old-school country, bluegrass, and that electric washboard he plays like an orchestra into what he aptly calls “shit-hot honky-tonk.”

Ziveli! Medicine for the Heart (1987, 51 min.) and A Well Spent Life (1971, 44 min.)
Friday the 13th, 7pm | Logan Theater | $10

The criminally underseen Ziveli! Medicine for the Heart explores the music and culture of the thriving Serbian communities of Chicago and California. Meanwhile, A Well Spent Life, Kurt Vonnegut’s favorite film, is a portrait of Texas sharecropper Mance Lipscomb, who just might be the best blues guitarist ever. Les Blank in person.

Spend It All (1971, 41 min.) and Dry Wood (1973, 37 min.)
Saturday the 14th, 5pm | Logan Theater | $10
Blank kept returning to document the cultures of the Louisiana bayou, an interest that resulted in two perfectly matched films. Spend It All looks at French-speaking Cajun culture through the music of Nathan Abshire and others, whereas Dry Wood looks at Black Creole culture through the zydeco music of Bois-Sec Ardoin and Canray Fontenot. Les Blank in person.

Dizzy Gillespie (1965, 22 min.) and Always for Pleasure (1978, 58 min.)
Saturday the 14th, 9:30pm | Logan Theater | $10

One of Blank’s earliest documentaries, Dizzy Gillespie captures the greatest jazz trumpeter in his prime, talking music and playing his bizarre bent horn. And Blank’s greatest film, Always for Pleasure, depicts New Orleans as a magical place where no matter how bad things might get, there’s always a parade somewhere. Les Blank in person.

Mucca Pazza & Fanfare for Marching Band
Thursday the 12th at 10pm | Wicker Park Arts Center | $10 in advance, $12 at door

Chicago icons Mucca Pazza, the thirty-piece circus-punk marching band, are back at CIMMfest this year, as raucous as ever, with a film and live performance that will trumpet us into the wee hours. FANFARE FOR MARCHING BAND, a collaboration between the band, filmmaker Danièle Wilmouth, and choreographer Peter Carpenter, is a fifteen-minute film of the band doing their thing in inappropriate places. Following the film, they’ll do their thing in a completely appropriate place: a hundred-year-old church sanctuary.

The Three Grace(s) Triptych (USA, 95 min., Nicola Kuperus & Adam Lee Miller)
With Live Accompaniment by ADULT.
Chicago Premiere
Friday the 13th at 9:30pm | Wicker Park Arts Center

A cross between Dario Argento and Kenneth Anger, the Three Grace(s) triptych is an avant-garde horror trilogy created by Nicola Kuperus and Adam Lee Miller of the Detroit electronic duo ADULT. Comprising three separate, but interconnected short films—Decampment (2008), Traditions (2010), and Possession(s) (2011)—the project reflects the dark, unsettling themes found in the pair’s unique brand of dance music. The films channel a Midwestern macabre style, exploring murder plots and paranormal activity in the backwoods of Michigan.

SciFiSol (USA, 70 min., Joseph Richard Lewis)
With live accompaniment by Melody Nife
World Premiere
Friday the 13th at 11:30pm | Wicker Park Arts Center

In what is undoubtedly the first “silent movie super hero video game musical,” writer-director Joseph Richard Lewis of Scumbabies (in)fame wears cheapness as a badge of honor and a challenge to be even more creative and inspired. It’s the story of a lonely video game designer named Emily whose most recent creation, rockstar superhero Melody Nife, starts to take over the world. SciFiSol takes familiar settings and objects, blending them into a kaleidoscopic retrofuturism that is simultaneously like everything and nothing you’ve ever seen.

Sister Spit 2012
Saturday the 14th at 8pm | Wicker Park Arts Center | $15
Michelle Tea, host
with Dorothy Allison | Mx Justin Vivian Bond | Brontez Purnell | Erin Markey | Cassie J Sneider | Kit Yan

  Afterparty with host Mx Justin Vivian Bond
Katastrophe | Brontez Purnell | Queerer Park DJs | Amos Mac

  The raucous, rowdy performance gang, Sister Spit, comes to Chicago with a vanload of queer-centric brilliance! Don't miss this multimedia explosion of taste-makers, novelists, luminaries, chanteuses, performance artists, poets and filmmakers. Join CIMMfest and a bevy of queer icons at Wicker Park Arts Center for a star-studded evening of performances by authors Michelle Tea (Valencia, Rent Girl) and Dorothy Allison (Bastard out of Carolina, Cavedweller), Mx Justin Vivian Bond, “the greatest cabaret artist of (v’s) generation” according to The New Yorker, and more!

  The evening of slam poetry, music, and performance art will continue well into the night at the afterparty hosted by Justin Vivian Bond at Beauty Bar, the hottest salon-cum-dance-joint in Ukrainian Village. Rock your genderqueer socks off to the tunes of transman rapper Katastrophe (MTV, LOGO, and L Word favorite), followed by Brontez Purnell (Fag School, Gravy Train) and Chicago’s own Queerer Park DJs.

Bad Brains: Band in DC (USA, 105 min., Mandy Stein & Benjamen Logan)
Feature Documentary
Chicago Premiere
Friday the 13th, 9:15pm | Logan Theater

Bad Brains: Band in DC is a remarkably intimate look at one of history’s most influential and iconoclastic rock bands. Combining found footage, rare concert recordings, interviews with heavyweights like Henry Rollins and Ian Mackaye, and comic book style animations, the film traces their musical evolution from funk to hardcore punk to reggae. Culminating in a turbulent 2007 reunion tour sabotaged by the band’s eccentric, unpredictable frontman, Band in DC captures the struggle (and ultimate perseverance) of the group as they continue to produce music after 25 years together.

With: Man Man – “Piranhas Club” (music video, USA, 5 min., Lex Halaby). You do not want to mess with the Piranhas Club.

The Beat Is the Law: Fanfare for the Common People (UK, 91 min., Eve Wood)
Feature Documentary
Chicago Premiere
Saturday the 14th, 9:15pm | The Society for Arts

Pulp didn’t simply spring fully formed into the headline spot at the 1995 Glastonbury festival—that monumental, career-making gig was the culmination of fifteen years of scrabbling around the edges of the Sheffield music scene. The Beat Is the Law traces Jarvis Cocker and company's long, slow, remarkable rise against a backdrop of political and creative ferment in a city that battled with Thatcher and gave rise to industrial funk and house as well as Britpop’s misfit messiahs.

With: In 1977 music doc maestro Tony Palmer looked at another Sheffield musical phenomenon. In The Wigan Casino (26 min.), he explores how a struggling mill town became the unlikely dance capital of England, drawing kids from across the country for all-night parties with a soundtrack of obscure American R&B. Palmer manages to capture the flash moves, deep grooves, and currents of social and economic history that shaped it, all in 26 minutes.

The Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best (USA, 97 min., Ryan O’Nan)
Feature Fiction
Chicago Premiere
Saturday the 14th, 7:15pm | Logan Theater

First-time writer-director Ryan O’Nan stars as Alex, a pathetically down-on-his luck singer-songwriter who hits the road with an unlikely partner: self-described “musical revolutionary” Jim (Michael Weston), whose toy instrument compositions just happen to mesh beautifully with Alex’s moody self-doubt (sort of “Shins meets Sesame Street,” as one character says). Throw in a beautiful barkeep-turned-manager (Arielle Kebbel) and some pitch-perfect cameos (by Christopher McDonald, Josh Ritter, Andrew McCarthy, and Oscar-winner Melissa Leo), and you have a multihyphenate roadtrip buddy comedy classic-in-the-making.

With: How to Make Your Own Paul Pilot Record (short fiction, UK, 2 min., Ryan Suffern). Useful advice for the next time you want to make a Paul Pilot record.

California Solo (USA, 94 min., Marshall Lewy)
Feature Fiction
Chicago Premiere
Sunday the 15th, 5:30pm | Wicker Park Arts Center

In Marshall Lewy’s sensitive, understated study of regret and second chances, Robert Carlyle delivers a slow-burning performance as an aging Madchester musician doing penance on a California farm, trying to drink away the tragedy that ended his musical career. A drunk-driving arrest threatens to upend his nonexistence, as he’ll be deported unless his departure would cause extreme hardship for a US citizen. His attempts at self-preservation dredge up the secrets he’s hiding from, including his estranged wife and teenage daughter.

With: Brad Standley & The Foxflies – “Tik Tok Nation” (music video, USA, 6 min., Anais Godard). Ke$ha meets the White Stripes in one busy room.

Charles Bradley: Soul of America (USA, 74 min., Poull Brien)
Feature Documentary
Chicago Premiere
Friday the 13th at 9pm | The Society for Arts

That subtitle says it all: the story of America is one of overcoming adversity through hard work, with an underside of disappointment and despair. Charles Bradley has had a hard god damned life that embodies both sides of that story, and you can hear it in his voice. How he came to a point, at the age of 62, where he could share his story and his music with millions of listeners is the topic of Poull Brien’s unmissable feature debut.

With: Timmy Grins – “Last Call” (music video, USA, 4 min., Fabio Lomelino). Regret is the heaviest burden.

Control Tower (Kanseitō) (Japan, 68 min., Takahiro Miki)
Feature Fiction
Chicago Premiere
Saturday the 14th, 3pm | The Society for Arts

Set against the frozen backdrop of winter in the northernmost city in Japan, music video director Takahiro Miki’s gorgeous, contemplative film tells the universal story of disaffected youth connecting through music. Based on an autobiographical song by Japanese pop-rock band Galileo Galilei, the film follows lonely boy Kakeru (Kento Yamazaki) as he bonds emotionally and musically with transfer student Mizuho (Ai Hashimoto), but the secret that she and her father are fleeing threatens to break up the band.

With: Too Close to the Sky (short fiction, Japan, 21 min., Denis Quinn). The generation gap plays out in an underground club.

Fluchkes (Israel, 54 min., Ofer Inov)
Feature Documentary
Chicago Premiere
Sunday the 15th, 1pm | The Society for Arts | $7

The title is Yiddish for “flabby arms,” and it’s a clue to the heart of this lighthearted yet incisive look at growing older. The film follows a group of women bound together by their love of dance and their age—they’re all in their seventies. Deftly weaving confessional interviews, their life stories, and the grueling process of rehearsal, Fluchkes finds drama, laughter, and pathos in the inspiring story of artists who refuse to let age get in the way of their art.

With: Man & Machine: A Naked Robotic Love Story (short doc, Belgium, 21 min., Jesse Roesler). Godfried and Moniek make music with their nude bodies.

With: The Yodeling Farmer (short doc, Canada, 6 min., Mike Maryniuk & John Scoles). There’s this farmer, see. He yodels.

With: Lucy Schwartz – “Life in Letters” (music video, USA, 4 min., Mallory Morrison & Shiloh Strong). Clark Gable’s grandson finds inspiration where he least expects it.

Ganzfeld (USA, 77 min., Brian Torrey Scott)
Director Brian Torrey Scott and cast in person
Feature Fiction
Saturday the 14th, 3pm | Wicker Park Arts Center

A young married couple in Chicago (Jeff Harms and Amelia Lorenz), very much in love, nonetheless finds their relationship fracturing under the pressures of work (or lack thereof), social obligations, and diverging worldviews. As straightforward as this might sound, this is no typical film: lurking outside of the storyline is a band featuring Azita Youssefi and Marvin Tate, who perform songs composed by LeRoy Bach that, like a Greek chorus, comment on the intricacies of the protagonists’ lives.

With: Signs & Vibrations (short doc, Switzerland, 8 min., Nalia Giovanoli). Total immersion in a club for deaf musicians.

The Girls in the Band (USA, 85 min., Judy Chaikin)
Feature Documentary
Chicago Premiere
Sunday the 15th, 3pm | Logan Theater

It should come as no surprise that the history of jazz is filled with talented female instrumentalists who, because of sexism and racism, have been erased from the official story. Yet Judy Chaikin manages to surprise nonetheless, as she documents the lively and sometimes depressing history of musicians like Ina Ray Hutton, Ada Leonard, and the International Sweethearts of Rhythm. Through a wealth of archival footage and interviews, The Girls in the Band rewrites the accepted history of American music.

With: The Collegians (short fiction, USA, 17 min., Bryan Lewis). Trumpet legend Erskine Hawkins gets a youthful comeuppance.

High Road (USA, 86 min., Matt Walsh)
Lizzy Caplan, Joe Lo Truglio, and director Matt Walsh in person
Feature Fiction
Special Presentation
Friday the 13th, 7pm | Logan Theater

Directed by a founding member of the Upright Citizens Brigade, High Road follows Fitz through a quarter-life crisis. His band on hiatus and his relationship on the rocks, Fitz resorts to dealing drugs, but he’s forced to flee when a transaction goes south. Complete with car chases, guns, and an eccentric doctor played by Horatio Sanz, this absurdist road movie feels like Hunter S. Thompson meets Judd Apatow. At once humorous and unexpectedly thoughtful, High Road captures the disillusionment and resilience of the Millennial generation.

Holiday Road (USA, 77 min., various directors)
Filmmakers Michael Suter, Kevin M. Brennan, Doug Manley, and actors Zachary Ross and Summer Perry in person
Feature Fiction
Chicago Premiere
Saturday the 14th, 9:30pm | Logan Theater

The demented minds behind 2010 CIMMfest hit The Scenesters are back with a hilarious collection of holiday-themed vignettes. From the ultimate Labor Day musical number to a cautionary tale about sailing alone on your birthday to the possibly apocryphal story of how Thanksgiving became a national holiday, these twelve side-splitting shorts by thirteen up-and-coming directors provide a year’s worth of laughs.

With: Tijuana Hercules – “Quicksand Passin’ Through” (music video, USA, 2 min., Shawn Brennan & John Vernon Forbes). More demented animation from CIMMfest ’09 vets.

I Want My Name Back (USA, 94 min., Roger Paradiso)
Director Roger Paradiso, Wonder Mike, and Master Gee in person
Feature Documentary
Chicago Premiere
Friday the 13th, 7pm | Wicker Park Arts Center

Everyone knows how it started—“I said a hip hop, the hippie the hippie to the hip hip hop”—but the story of the Sugarhill Gang isn’t finished. Thrust into superstardom with the first Top 40 hip hop single but robbed of their money and their names by their management, founding members Wonder Mike and Master Gee have spent the last two decades fighting for their rightful place in music history. Roger Paradiso’s incisive documentary tells the story of their rise, fall, and comeback.

Irvine Welsh’s Ecstasy (Canada, 105 min., Rob Heydon)
Director Rob Heydon and writer Irvine Welsh in person
Feature Fiction
Special Presentation
Friday the 13th, 9:30pm | Logan Theater

Rob Heydon’s adaptation of a novella by Irvine Welsh (Trainspotting), nearly a dozen years in the making, is a drug- and house-fueled trip into the heyday of Edinburgh rave culture. An aging drug mule (Adam Sinclair) and a married Canadian (Kristin Kreuk) fall in love under the influence of E, but she starts to wonder if there’s more to their chemistry than chemicals. A pounding soundtrack featuring Paul Oakenfold, Orbital, and Primal Scream combines with vertiginous cinematography by Brad Hruboska to ensure club flashbacks.

Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet (UK, 90 min., Jesse Vile)
Feature Documentary
Chicago Premiere
Friday the 13th, 7pm | The Society for Arts

A week after replacing Steve Vai as David Lee Roth’s guitarist, 19-year-old virtuoso Jason Becker was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease and told he wouldn’t live to see his 25th birthday. Twenty-three years later, he’s still making music: unable to hold a guitar, he composes with his eyes, refusing to allow even his 1996 death to interfere with his calling. Not Dead Yet is a sobering yet ultimately inspiring testament to the sustaining power of music.

With: Ima Robot – “Greenback Boogie” (music video, Italy, 6 min., Frank Jerky). You never know what’s going to happen in the bathroom.

Just Like Being There (USA, 98 min., Scout Shannon)
Steve Walters in person
Feature Documentary
Chicago Premiere
Sunday the 15th @ 3:15pm | Wicker Park Arts Center

Although rock show posters rank among the most creative and inspired forms of visual art around, they’re also ephemeral, usually turned to sludge by rain or crumpled in the garbage. But the gig poster scene is expanding, the work is being taken more seriously as art, and the close-knit community of artists who make these posters aren’t sure what to think of that. Join Daniel Danger, Jay Ryan, and local hero Steve Walters of Screwball Press for this entertaining analysis of an art community suddenly cursed with cultural cachet.

Louder Than Love: The Grande Ballroom Story (USA, 67 min., Tony D’Annunzio)
Feature Documentary
Chicago Premiere
Saturday the 14th, 3pm | Logan Theater

From 1966 to 1972, Detroit’s Grande (make sure you say it right) Ballroom was the epicenter of rock music. From local acts like Iggy & the Stooges and Alice Cooper to imports like The Who (who chose the Grande for the US premiere of Tommy) and Led Zeppelin, everyone who was anyone had to follow a blistering set by The MC5 on the stage of the restored 1930s dance hall. Louder Than Love demonstrates that although the Grande may be abandoned, its influence lives on.

With: The Coconut (short documentary, Canada, 10 min., Nimisha Mukerji). A young girl is torn between family ties and her musical dreams.

Nyman in Progress (Germany, 80 min., Silvia Beck)
Feature Documentary
Chicago Premiere
Sunday the 15th at 3:15pm | The Society for Arts

Part minimalism, part Mozart, part rock & roll, Michael Nyman’s music has continually challenged traditional conceptions of the classical genre. Nyman in Progress follows the iconoclastic pianist/composer best known for his striking film scores as he traces his Polish heritage, debuts a new video project, and tours the globe. Featuring interviews with Steve Reich and members of the Michael Nyman band, as well as footage from the films of Peter Greenaway and Dziga Vertov, this film will appeal to music aficionados and cinema enthusiasts alike.

With: Sei Ottavi – “Vucciria” (music video, Italy, 8 min., Michele Di Salle). Magic, music, and color in Sicily’s ancient market.

And: Irene (music video, Canada, 7 min., Paola Marino). A Vivaldi aria about a scorned wife.

One Night Stand (USA, 74 min., Elisabeth Sperling & Trish Dalton)
Feature Documentary
Chicago Premiere
Sunday the 15th at 1pm | Logan Theater

Mounting a stage musical is complicated at best, disastrous at worst (see: Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark). So the idea of putting a couple dozen insanely talented actors (including Cheyenne Jackson and Nellie McKay), directors (like Tony-winner Ed Sperling), composers (like Emmy-winner Lance Horne), and writers (like Rinne Groff) into a room together and giving them 24 hours to write, cast, direct, rehearse, and perform four short musicals is both “joyous and heartfelt” (Indiewire) and a whole lot of fun.

With: Incest! The Musical (short fiction, USA, 23 min., Grant Reed). You should love your siblings, but you shouldn’t love your siblings.

Pank: The Rise of Punk in Chile (Chile, 75 min., Martín Núñez).
Feature Documentary. US Premiere.

Not to minimize the complaints of the anti-establishment US and UK punk rock bands that rode three chords and the truth into rock history, but under the dictatorship of Agusto Pinochet, being anti-establishment could get you disappeared. And yet young Chilean men and women embraced the loud, fast, angry ethos of punk, melding it with their specific political and cultural backgrounds and tossing in some Dada to create a unique and heretofore unheralded brand of protest music that Martín Núñez’s compelling film reveals to the world.

With: Blah Blah Blah – “Why Am I the Only One Laughing?” (music video, USA, 4 min., Kasia Konair). The Chicago band explores feeling out of place and out of tune.

Parallax Sounds (Italy, Augusto Contento)
Feature Documentary
Exclusive Work-in-Progress Preview
Saturday the 14th at 5:30pm | Wicker Park Arts Center

How much does the world around us shape the music we make? Augusto Contento’s contemplative film examines that question through a look at the relationship between Chicago’s dynamic urban landscape and the trailblazing musicians who defined its underground sound from the 1990s into the future. From fiercely independent producer/musician Steve Albini to MacArthur “Genius” grantee Ken Vandermark, Parallax Sounds sets its gifted subjects’ self-examination against Contento’s stunning cinematography and Vandermark’s visionary score.

The Posters Came from the Walls (UK, 70 min., Jeremy Deller & Nick Abrahams)
Feature Documentary
Chicago Premiere
Friday the 13th, 11:15pm | The Society for Arts | $10

Is there a fan base in rock ’n’ roll as devout—we use the word advisedly—as Depeche Mode’s? Jeremy Deller, a Turner Prize-winning artist, and music documentarian Nick Abrahams circled the globe talking to disciples of the black-clad boys from Basildon, drawing funny, touching tales of faith and devotion from (among others) outcast LA teens, yearning Iranian emigrés, and Russians for whom Dave Gahan is practically their own personal Jesus.

With: Young Circles – “Love Hitch” (music video, USA, 5 min., Adam Badlotto). How do you forget a lost love?

With: Fractal Farm – “Bloodless” (music video, USA, 5 min., Devin DiMattia). Members of Fractal Farm donate their bodies to science—while they’re still alive.

Punk in Africa (South Africa, 80 min., Deon Maas & Keith Jones)
Feature Documentary
US Premiere
Sunday the 15th, 3:15pm | Logan Theater

Punk rockers used sneers, safety pins, black leather, liberty spikes, and of course loud music to tell society to piss off. But as Maas and Jones reveal, in South Africa under apartheid, or in Mozambique during the civil war, the strongest statement a punk band could make was to be multiracial. Of the results, Curt Hopkins on website OkayAfrica perhaps put it best: “It wasn’t an explosion, it was an uninhibited musical miscegenation, in which punk and native musical traditions met—and screwed in the bathroom at the youth club.”

With: Jesus Christ! That’s Hardcore (short documentary, USA, 17 min., Ryan Britton). How would Jesus thrash?

Punk’s Not Dead (Macedonia, 104 min., Vladimir Blazevski)
Feature Fiction
US Premiere
Saturday the 14th, 5pm | The Society for Arts

Macedonia’s official submission for the 2012 Oscars is a black comedy that follows the foul-mouthed former leader of an underground punk band as he tries to round up his bandmates for a reunion concert. It might sound like the stuff of dozens of rock movies, but this is the former Yugoslavia, and the ethnic and religious tensions that led to a decade of war are still present. Their perilously funny journey to take part in an NGO-sponsored celebration of “inter-ethnic relaxation” suggests that time may not heal all wounds.

With: Goths! On the Bus! (short fiction, 4 min., Canada, Karen & Jaimz Asmundson). Even Goths have to go to the mall.

Roller Town (Canada, 76 min., Andrew Bush)
Feature Fiction
Chicago Premiere
Sunday the 14th at 5pm | Logan Theater

In the grand tradition of Roller Boogie and Skatetown USA (except, you know, actually funny), the first feature from Halifax-based comedy troupe Picnicface pits rollerskating, disco, and young love against the Mafia, who want to turn the local skating rink into a video arcade. Combining musical numbers, surrealist comedy, and slapstick with the finest skating scenes since at least Roll Bounce, Roller Town demonstrates that the tradition of cutting-edge Canadian comedy, from SCTV to the Kids in the Hall, is alive and well.

With: Chris Connelly – “Wait for Amateur” (music video, USA, 3 min., Shayna Connelly). Chicago legend’s first video from his new album.

With: Face Time Police – “Nothing Left to Break” (music video, USA, 3 min., James Serra). It hurts that you’ve moved on.

Rostropovich and Shostakovich: Masterclass of Friendship (USA, 54 min., Mekhti Mammadov)
Director Mekhti Mammadov in person
Feature Documentary
US Premiere
Saturday the 14th at 1pm | The Society for Arts

This affectionate documentary illuminates both the personality and genius of one of the greatest composers to battle the terrifying repression of Stalinist Russia, Dmitri Shostakovich. Fellow virtuoso Msistlav Rostropovich, one of the greatest cellists of all time and a formidable conductor, remembers his teacher, mentor, and dear friend through enchanting anecdotes. Director Mekhti Mammadov elegantly brings this friendship to life that will move anyone who has heard recordings of Rostropovich playing some of Shostakovich’s greatest works.

With: Il Maestro (short fiction, UK, 13 min., Jennie Paddon). The Usual Suspects of the teenage music competition world.

With: Urban Myth (music video, USA, 3 min., Erin O’Brien). A surreal animation inspired by Jean Miro and composer Murray Gross.

Shorts Program 1: Variety Is the Heart of CIMMfest
Two Sisters, Audiogram, Heart of Rhyme, Mo Kenny’s “Eden,” Below New York
Saturday the 14th at 1pm | Logan Theater | $7

Anthony Ladesich brings us an old-fashioned murder ballad with Two Sisters (short fiction, USA, 15 min.). Alice Ionescu returns to CIMMfest with Audiogram (short documentary, Romania, 19 min.), a about a dance troupe for deaf children. Cory Bowles’s Heart of Rhyme (short fiction, Canada, 16 min.) is about a middle-aged white man whose life is turned upside down after a heart transplant. Greg Jackson’s video for Mo Kenny’s song “Eden” (Canada, 3 min.) has fun with green screens. And in Below New York (short documentary, USA, 28 min.), Matt Finlin looks at a few of the talented musicians who earn their living in the New York subways. Total running time: 82 min

Shorts Program 2: Roots-Rock Gods
Approximately Nels Cline, One Big Holiday, Revenge of the Mekons
Joe Angio in person
Saturday the 14th at 3pm | Logan Theater | $7

These three short documentaries explore the myriad paths to what we call rock ’n’ roll. Approximately Nels Cline (USA, 27 min., Steven Okazaki) traces the avant-jazz icon’s unusual path from improvisational trailblazer to Wilco guitarist. One Big Holiday (USA, 28 min., Michael Feld) is a local-boy-made-good story of My Morning Jacket’s preparations for a stadium show in their hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. And director Joe Angio presents a sneak preview of his upcoming film Revenge of the Mekons (USA, 20 min.), about the pioneering and genre-bending Welsh rock band. Total running time: 75 min. (MP)

Shorts Program 3: North and South of the Border
Narcocorrido, Hamac Caziim
Sunday the 15th at 1pm | Wicker Park Arts Center | $8

These two films, admittedly only vaguely connected (both deal with Mexico), still offer two acute and intelligent portraits of music’s use as a method of cultural transmission. Ryan Prows delivers the powerful fictional film Narcocorrido (USA, 24 min.), a tale of drugs and violence that is immortalized in a new form of Mexican folk balladry. And H. Paul Moon, winner of 2010’s Best Short Documentary, is back with Hamac Caziim (USA, 38 min.), an in-depth look at an indigenous Mexican punk band, whose music fuses American-style rock with the language and cultural traditions of the Comaac people.

Sons of Norway (Norway, 87 min., Jens Lien)
Feature Fiction
US Premiere
Sunday the 15th, 5:30pm | The Society for Arts | $10

Nikolaj isn't your average Scandinavian teenager circa 1978—he pounds out guitar chords learned from the Sex Pistols while his free-spirited architect father quotes Nietzsche at Christmas dinner. But after his mother dies tragically, Nikolaj is forced to confront the universal experience of maturity without disciplinary parents against which to rebel. A peculiarly heartwarming coming-of-age tale set to blaring punk and featuring a cameo from Johnny Rotten himself, Sons of Norway wonders aloud whether or not two generations can grow up at the same time.

With: Negativipeg (short doc, Canada, 16 min., Matthew Rankin). Rory Lepine can’t seem to live down a youthful indiscretion.

This Band Is So Gorgeous! Sham 69 in China (UK, 72 min., Dunstan Bruce)
Feature Documentary
World Premiere
Saturday the 14th, 1pm | Logan Theater

In 2009, at the behest of an inexperienced but enthusiastic Chinese promoter called Ray, Sham 69 became the first important UK punk outfit to play in the land of Mao and managed capitalism. Chumbawamba vocalist-turned-filmmaker Dunstan Bruce went along to capture this tour diary, a gritty look at whether the passionate rebellion of punk can still unite the kids across the gulfs of language, culture, and time—and whether a band of middle-aged true believers can survive trying to find out.

With: Da! A Concert Film (short documentary, USA, 16 min., Robert Beshara). Live at the reunion concert of Chicago punk legends Da!

Uprising: Hip Hop and the LA Riots (USA, 66 min., Mark Ford)
Producer Warren Cohen in person
Feature Documentary
Chicago Premiere
Saturday the 14th at 7:15pm | Logan Theater | $10

Did gangsta rap sow the seeds of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, or was it the only form of cultural commentary to predict the rage and violence that exploded after the acquittal of the cops who beat Rodney King? Uprising, narrated by Snoop Dogg, cautions against easy answers to this question. Using archival footage and interviews with rappers (including Ice Cube and KRS One), filmmakers, rioters, police, and victims, this is a thorough examination of the riot, its roots in staggering poverty and inequality, and its aftermath.

With: Protect the Nation (short fiction, Germany/South Africa, 16 min., C.R. Reisser). A young boy struggles to find the courage to do what’s right.

Vinylmania (Italy, 75 min., Paolo Campana)
Feature Documentary
Chicago Premiere
Saturday the 14th at 7:15 | The Society for Arts | $10, or $7 with your CHIRP Record Fair receipt

Tutto il mondo é un paese. All the world’s a village. And in this village there are no CDs or MP3 players. Rather, everyone is in pursuit of the molded black platter with concentric grooves scratched with a diamond to recreate real, natural, glorious sound waves. Musician, DJ, and vinylphile Paolo Campana turns documentarian and sends his camera flying over stacks of LPs, 45s, and picture discs; and flies himself around the world to meet fellow vinyl-nerds from stamping plants in Germany to a laser-read turntable designer in Japan.

With: Music Man Murray (short documentary, USA, 22 min., Richard Parks). Murray has way too many LPs in his collection.

High Road (4/14 12:15AM) 2ND SCREEING AS 7 PM SCREENING IS SOLD OUT High Road (USA, 86 min., Matt Walsh) Lizzy Caplan, Joe Lo Truglio, and director Matt Walsh in person Feature Fiction Special Presentation Friday the 13th, 7pm | Logan Theater Directed by a founding member of the Upright Citizens Brigade, High Road follows Fitz through a quarter-life crisis. His band on hiatus and his relationship on the rocks, Fitz resorts to dealing drugs, but he’s forced to flee when a transaction goes south. Complete with car chases, guns, and an eccentric doctor played by Horatio Sanz, this absurdist road movie feels like Hunter S. Thompson meets Judd Apatow. At once humorous and unexpectedly thoughtful, High Road captures the disillusionment and resilience of the Millennial generation.