Playlist

Blip Festival: Reformat the Planet
Director: Paul Owens. A documentary look at the movement known as ChipTunes, a vibrant underground scene based around creating new, original music using old video game hardware. (World Premiere)

Heavy Load
Director: Jerry Rothwell. Heavy Load are a punk outfit subject to the combustible flux of ego, ambition, fantasy, expectation and desire that fuels any emerging band. But they re also, uniquely, made up of musicians with and without learning disabilities. (World Premiere)

Heavy Metal in Baghdad
Director: Suroosh Alvi. Playing heavy metal in a Muslim country has always been a difficult proposition, but after Saddam¹s regime was toppled, there was a brief moment for the band in which real freedom seemed possible. (U.S.Premiere)

Here Is What Is
Director: Adam Vollick & Adam Samuels. An invitation to experience a year of creation, looking over Daniel Lanois¹ shoulder. His psychedelic past emerges throughout the film as the hyperrealism of the in-studio documentation is contrasted by moments of wild fantasia. (U.S. Premiere)

Joy Division
Director: Grant Gee. The filmmakers investigate why Joy Division s collective musical genius and singular vision enjoys a larger audience and influence thirty years on. (U.S. Premiere)

Lou Reed s Berlin
Director: Julian Schnabel. An artful document of musical legend Lou Reed, performing his influential record, "Berlin," to audiences in New York City. (U.S. Premiere)

Nerdcore Rising
Director: Negin Farsad. "Nerdcore" is the newest, dorkiest wave of hip-hop, born out of the internet and made possible by computer-obsessed geeks. (World Premiere)

The Night James Brown Saved Boston
Director: David Leaf. A documentary look at the historic James Brown concert, held just days after Martin Luther King s assassination, when the city of Boston was ready to boil. (Work-In-Progress)

Of All The Things
Director: Jody Lambert. A Filipino concert promoter has been begging Dennis Lambert (one of the most successful and gifted songwriter/producers of the Œ70s and Œ80s) to come tour for decades. Thirty-five years after the release of his solo album, he finally agreed. (World Premiere)

Shine A Light
Director: Martin Scorsese. The legendary film director and the world s most famous rock band make rock and roll history. A complete experience, documenting both the band¹s history and a legendary Beacon Theatre show, and a window into the Stones unique relationship with Martin Scorsese. A must-see for every true rock and roll fan. (North American Premiere)

The Sweet Lady with the Nasty Voice
Director: Vincent Kralyevich. This documentary is the culmination of a two-year journey with Wanda Jackson, now 70, in performances across the United States and Europe. (World Premiere)

Throw Down Your Heart
Director: Sascha Paladino. Cameras follow American banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck on his journey to Africa to explore the little known African roots of the banjo, and record an album. (World Premiere)

The Upsetter: The Life & Music of Lee "Scratch" Perry
Directors: Ethan Higbee and Adam Bhala Lough. The fascinating story of Lee "Scratch" Perry, a visionary musician and artist from poor rural Jamaica who soon became of the most influential artists in reggae and dub. (World Premiere)

We Dreamed America
Director: Alex Walker. A documentary that delves deep into the dark and hilarious recesses of the British Americana music scene, exploring the gritty underworld of the New British Country movement. (U.S. Premiere)

Wesley Willis s Joyrides
Director: Chris Bagley. A portrait of the self-proclaimed rock n roll star and Chicago city artist, Wesley Willis. (Regional Premiere)

The Wrecking Crew
Director: Denny Tedesco. You heard them playing on the Beach Boys hits, on the Mamas and the Papas recordings, on Frank Sinatra records, on Monkees singles, and they were Phil Spector s Wall of Sound. Most likely, you never heard their name. If you knew who they were, you called them "the Wrecking Crew." (World Premiere)

• More: SXSW 2008 blog posts