Silversun Pickups composed and performed the score for this taut directorial debut from Criminal Minds and Archer co-star Aisha Tyler. Irish actor Emmett Hughes, who also wrote the script, gives a bravura, virtually solo performance as a Hollywood bad boy who, after getting sober, finding love, and landing a blockbuster part, finds his life unravelling in a series of phone calls as he drives across LA.
Thursday November 9, 2017 7:00pm - 8:45pm CST
Davis Theater4614 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625, USA
A preeminent artifact of American punk and one of the most influential music docs ever made, Spheeris's first feature unflinchingly captures the scene that emerged from Hollywood’s subterranean art culture of the late 1970s and the furor it spawned. Featuring concert footage and memorable interviews with punk pioneers Black Flag, X, the Circle Jerks, Catholic Discipline, Fear, and the sweet, sad, brilliant wreck that was Darby Crash and the Germs.
Thursday November 9, 2017 7:15pm - 9:15pm CST
Davis Theater4614 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625, USA
In December 2014, Daptone Records celebrated its 20th anniversary with a three-night revue at the Apollo Theater, the first multi-night residency at the historic Harlem hall since James Brown did it in the ’70s. Anchored by galvanizing performances by Antibalas, Budos Band, Como Mamas, and the dearly departed Charles Bradley and Sharon Jones, this concert film/documentary blend tells the Daptone story in words and music and captures the family dynamic driving this funk/soul powerhouse.
When the Sex Pistols imploded in early 1978 after a disastrous gig at Winterland in San Francisco, their controversial and misunderstood frontman ditched his Rotten nom de punk for his birth name and formed Public Image Ltd. John Lydon chronicles his own journey from sickly kid in a London council flat to international music legend, leading the postpunk cult band that was arguably more influential than his notorious first group.
Spheeris's follow-up to her stunning documentary on Los Angeles punk depicts LA's metal scene from 1986 to 1988, when hair bands ruled the Sunset Strip. While tracking the fortunes of would-be glam gods like Odin, Seduce, and London, Decline II features interviews with actual hard-rock gods like Ozzy Osbourne, Alice Cooper, Steven Tyler, Lemmy, and Paul Stanley and notoriously captures the era's aura of excess, misogyny, and sleaze.
Thursday November 9, 2017 9:30pm - 11:15pm CST
Davis Theater4614 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625, USA
Free jazz drummer Avreeayl Ra, an acolyte of Sun Ra and Phil Cohran whom the ChicagoTribune hails as “an indispensable Chicago innovator,” takes a tour of the city places that shaped his life and music.
An intimate portrait of an adventurous musical mind at work as Sonic Youth guitar genius Lee Ranaldo collaborates with producer Ra_l ?Refree? Hernandez to create his 2017 Mute Records release Electric Trim. Novelist Jonathan Lethem plays writer/muse to Ranaldo's artist/composer wanderings, layering lyrics across soundscapes built with help from friends like singer Sharon Van Etten and Wilco guitarist Nels Cline. The result is a bold, new sound and a lush and striking departure from Ranaldo?s signature work.
Introduced by Chaz Ebert and Penelope Spheeris! Largely unseen for nearly two decades after its brief release, the third installment of Spheeris's Decline trilogy chronicles homeless teenage "gutter punks" living on the streets of Los Angeles and explores her relationship with one such kid, called Eyeball. While retaining the LA music frame of its predecessors, Decline III is as much about a generation deeply alienated from mainstream society, and Spheeris’s own journey toward becoming a foster parent to her once-blighted subjects.
Friday November 10, 2017 7:30pm - 9:30pm CST
Davis Theater4614 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625, USA
Long before the internet, a pair of Toronto queers used fanzines and no-budget films to create a movement out of whole cloth, sparking a revolution that took punk back to its roots, opened it up to LGBT dissidents, and cleared the way for radical fellow travelers like Pansy Division and riot grrrl. John Waters, Kathleen Hanna, Peaches, and progenitors Bruce La Bruce and G.B. Jones are among those recalling the rise of queercore in this kinetic fanzine of a doc.
Introduced by Penelope Spheeris! Spheeris’s gonzo western drapes the mantle of Wild West mythos on the unlikely shoulders of Jon Cryer and Daniel Roebuck, punk rockers from Queens whose cross-country drive to LA becomes a mission of vengeance when their pal Flea is murdered by a gang of psychotic rednecks led by Fear’s Lee Ving (clearly enjoying himself). Newly restored after decades out of circulation, this is the missing link between Spheeris’s cult ’80s indie films and her ’90s Hollywood success.
Friday November 10, 2017 9:40pm - 11:45pm CST
Davis Theater4614 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625, USA
A long-overdue look at journey of young black men who found a way out of poverty through spiritual music in the first half of the 20th century. Tastefully mixing vintage clips, archival images, and interviews with members of the Blind Boys of Alabama, the Soul Stirrers, the Dixie Hummingbirds, and other groups, this is the quintessential history of gospel music’s legendary quartets and their enduring influence on rock, soul, and R&B.
A deep dive into the rise, fall, and future – yes, we said future – of “music’s worst format” (the filmmakers’ words, not ours): the clunky, crap-sounding, revolutionary cassette, the first technology that made your tunes portable and shareable. Cassette limns the pre-digital joy of mix-making and the way cheap tapes gave early indie rockers and rappers a crucial path to market, but it transcends sprocket nostalgia in its portrait of the now-elderly Dutch engineer who invented the goddamned things.
Saturday November 11, 2017 12:00pm - 1:45pm CST
Davis Theater4614 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625, USA
Keith Crombie was the cranky, contrarian spirit of Newcastle jazz, presiding for decades over the English city’s premier dive — Jazz Café, a home away from home for anyone from Eric Burdon and Wynton Marsalis to generations of young Geordie misfits. This atmospheric portrait recounts his early adventures in the music business (and, just maybe, the mob) and celebrates a life dedicated to keeping the blue note beat alive.
In the besieged Sarajevo of December 1994 — a city without electricity or clean running water, whose inhabitants daily dodged Serb shelling and sniper fire — it seemed a fantastical rumor: Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson was coming to play a show. This is a story about people who risked their lives to perform for people who risked their lives just to live them, and about how music provides hope in the direst circumstances.
Saturday November 11, 2017 2:00pm - 3:45pm CST
Davis Theater4614 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625, USA
Jaime Leopold, original bassist for Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks and a charter member of the Haight-Ashbury scene, plays an aging alt-folk troubadour on a never-ending tour who thinks he finds a shot at career redemption when he discovers a young drifter with a golden voice (Jennifer Smieja). Featuring a fantastic soundtrack of Leopold’s “American quirk” songs, a few of which he and Smieja will perform after the screening.
This nooks-and-crannies exploration of Ozzfest played a handful of film fests upon release and his been virtually unseen since. Spheeris captures everything, from the observations of fans, groupies, tour-bus drivers, and pyrotechnicians to Ozzy’s backstage oxygen treatments, Slipknot visiting the Lincoln Memorial in full regalia, and performances by Black Sabbath, Primus, System of a Down, and many more. A rare treat for devotees of metal and backstage tour docs.
Caskie Jones last saw his father 30 years ago, but he's very much a chip off the brawling, boozing block. When his wife finally tosses him out, Caskie goes looking for the old man. The road leads to a dusty New Mexico town and more than he bargained for in the form of Tanner Wild (Nashville's Aubrey Peeples), a tart-tongued teenager and prodigal singer-songwriter who unwittingly forces Caskie to confront his past in this antihero tale powered by a killer Americana soundtrack.
Join us to raise a toast to our 2017 Baadasssss Award honoree, the one and only Penelope Spheeris, and find out which films will take home trophies as CIMMfest's best in documentary, fiction, music video, score, and soundtrack.
Saturday November 11, 2017 6:30pm - 7:30pm CST
Davis Theater4614 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625, USA
"You have to experience life before you sing it," Gregory Porter says. This personal, visually striking portrait captures the moments, the mentors, the hard lessons, and, especially, the butter-smooth baritone that have shaped Porter's music and propelled the soft-spoken, sartorially splendid vocalist from Bakersfield to Brooklyn to late-blooming global fame as one of the most distinctive voices in jazz.
Saturday November 11, 2017 7:50pm - 9:30pm CST
Davis Theater4614 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625, USA
Fifteen years ago, the Icarus Line was rocketing to the top of the LA underground with a hot debut album and a major-label deal. Now frontman Joe Cardamone is 36 and broke, and the record companies won’t touch his new stuff. Plus, he’s getting death threats by text. Cardamone wrote the script and plays a thinly veiled version of himself in this No Wave-style noir about navigating the modern music biz, co-starring Ariel Pink and Keith Morris.
At the invitation of an old flame for whom he still carries a torch, Bryan, a young Portlander adjusting to life in a wheelchair after a terrible injury, road trips to a Las Vegas EDM festival with his best bud Andres in this kinetic, colorful, “silent” movie with no spoken dialogue but a wall-to-wall dance-music soundtrack featuring Dash Berlin, Armin van Buuren, and many, many more.
Martin Ravin lives alone in a secluded lake house, mourning his murdered wife and consoling himself with Irish airs. One night he spies a trysting young couple commandeering his canoe for a moonlight ride; when only the boy returns, Martin takes matters into his own hands. Is he seeking justice? Vengeance? A way to keep his past at bay? A brisk, surprising thriller marked by dark humor and beautifully sinister musical interludes.
Made for public television, this effusive documentary gathered three generations of New Orleans piano legends — blues and boogie man Tuts Washington; his protégé, R&B pioneer Professor Longhair; and the great songwriter and producer Allen Toussaint, a Longhair disciple — for an historic keyboard summit. A film as rich in flavor as New Orleans's musical culture itself that will have you grooving and bouncing in your seats.
Sunday November 12, 2017 12:00pm - 1:30pm CST
Old Town School of Folk Music4544 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625, USA
Writer/director Mays, currently co-starring in Snowfall, and rapper/actor Tristan “Mack” Wilds (of The Wire and Adele’s “Hello” video) are X and Nisha, childhood friends from South Central who turn a game of crooning smooth R&B versions of rock and pop classics into a series of viral tracks. A canny mix of urban drama, romance, bromance, and cautionary tale on the perils of returning to the ’hood.
Sunday November 12, 2017 12:00pm - 2:00pm CST
Davis Theater4614 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625, USA
A young artist eking out an aimless existence in San Francisco tries to sort out a battery of conflicting emotions upon returning to her small Wisconsin hometown, a year after her father’s death, for her best friend’s wedding. Weaver, who also wrote, edited, and stars as June, makes an assured feature debut in this sharply observed seriocomic character study; her partner, Wisconsin singer-songwriter Chris Irwin, composed the rootsy score.
3:30 and 7 PM screenings sold out! Tickets for all shows include entry to our closing-night party featuring Neo DJs Suzanne Shelton, Jeff Moyer, and Scary Lady Sarah (8:45 PM, GMan Tavern, re-entry is first-come, first-served). Opened in 1979 as Chicago's first alternative dance club, Neo reigned for 36 years as a sanctuary for misfits, weirdos, and outcasts and ground zero for an explosion of fashion and music trends. Richter's labor-of-love documentary debut is a true testimonial of a club that not only outlasted its competitors but never lost its attitude, or its reputation as a place where people celebrated their individuality and danced their asses off.
Now looking like a singing Mark Twain (and showing a similar laconic wit), the New England troubadour credited with launching the singer-songwriter movement and introducing audiences to the work of Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, and Jackson Browne tells the story of his musical life, culminating with a concert at Boston Symphony Hall celebrating his 50-year career. Essential viewing for folk fans, screening ahead of Rush’s Nov. 12 performance at the Old Town School of Folk Music.
From Mali's northern desert to the capital of Bamako in the south, the music and dance that have framed the rituals of the country's life are threatened by poverty, war, and creeping consumerism. Featuring a raft of ear- and eye-boggling performances, this is a journey deep into Mali's myriad cultural traditions, led by the men and women who hopefully won't be their last inheritors.
A people’s history of New Orleans culture wrapped in a making-the-album doc as Basque rocker and filmmaker Muguruza – known in Spain for his radical politics and multiculti musical blending – records in NOLA with local luminaries ranging from Preservation Hall to zydeco great Sunpie Barnes to bounce queen Katey Red. Between sessions, Big Easy artists, writers, and scene mainstays talk about the city’s musical past and post-Katrina present.
Sunday November 12, 2017 2:40pm - 4:45pm CST
Davis Theater4614 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625, USA
After a decade of public silence, David Bowie entered perhaps the most unexpected and daring stage of a career filled with changes. Featuring a wealth of previously unseen footage and key collaborators on his last two albums and the stage musical Lazarus, this is an intimate portrait of Bowie in the final phase of one of the defining creative lives of our time, returning to the core themes of spirituality, alienation, and fame that define his work.
Sunday November 12, 2017 4:30pm - 6:00pm CST
Comfort Station2579 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL 60647, USA
Let’s all go to the bar! Deer Tick’s 10th-anniversary gig on New Year’s Eve 2015 provides the spine for this time-shifting chronicle of the Rhode Island indie rockers’ evolution — from rare, raw footage of a teenage John McCauley at Providence open mics through the relentless touring, booze-drenched shows, and eccentric obsessions that have made Deer Tick one of America’s premier cult bands.
Papa Grows Funk was the quintessential Crescent City groove band, a supergroup of local players who drew fans from around the world for their renowned Monday-night residency at the Maple Leaf Bar. Percolating with electric performances, this doc wraps the tale of the band and its breakup into a larger story about New Orleans music, crystallizing the tension between the ease of being a working musician in a city that supports homegrown talent like no other and the frustration that can come with wanting more than that.
Mexican guitarist Camilo Nu goes adventuring in search of his musical roots, crossing the Atlantic to find the Andalusian, Arab, and African antecedents of son jarocho, the traditional folk style of his native Veracruz. Traveling across Spain and Morocco, Nu digs into flamenco, bonds with a Sufi singing star, and jams with Berber and Gnawa masters on a journey into the heart of his country’s cultural identity, and his own.
The personal story of the life and times of a Chicago blues great, the late, legendary harmonica player and bandleader Paul Butterfield. Horn from the Heart captures the unbridled soul of a teenage bluesman who learned his craft at the feet of his mentor Muddy Waters, in joints where white kids from Hyde Park didn't go in the early '60s. While standing up to racial injustice, Paul Butterfield played a key role in bringing the blues to rock and roll. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015. Billy Boy Arnold, a Chicago blues icon and the brother of original Butterfield Blues Band bassist Jerome Arnold, will join director John Anderson and other special guests at the post-screening Q&A.
