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/ / The 2nd CHIRP Music Film Festival
Davis Theater
4614 N Lincoln Ave
Chicago
,
IL
60625
(773) 769-3999
All Ages
CHIRP is proud to present the return of its music film festival! Featuring seven music documentaries and concert films, the second CHIRP Music Film Festival has something for every kind of music lover!
The fest takes place at the historic Davis Theater.
This year, by request, we now have festival passes available at an early bird rate of $50 only through April 20.
Tickets and festival passes available here.
Schedule and event details below!
Friday, May 17
8:00 PM - Melomaniac, Dir: Katlin Schneider; 2023 (70 mins.)
Starting in the 1980s, Aadam Jacobs has recorded audio of every live show he’s attended in Chicago. Since then, Jacobs has built an impressive archive of more than 30,000 performances, recording early sets from such bands as The Flaming Lips, Nirvana, and Sonic Youth. Melomaniac explores the impact of one man’s passion and obsession for Chicago’s music scene, with interviews from local music icon Jon Langford and Portlandia star Fred Armisen, to conversations with the owners of longstanding Chicago venues like The Metro.
Saturday, May 18th
1:00 PM - Joan Baez: I Am a Noise, Dir: Miri Navasky, Maeve O’Boyle, Karen O’Connor; 2023 (113 mins.)
Memories can bring “diamonds and rust,” and in this deep and meditative documentary, Joan Baez has an entire storage unit full of them! Using unreleased home movies, artwork, diaries, therapy tapes, and audio recordings, I Am a Noise takes an honest look back at the sixty-year career of the Queen of Folk. Not only surveying her career as a folk singer and Civil Rights activist, but also her personal battles with panic attacks and familial abuse.
4:00 PM - Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami, Dir: Sophie Fiennes; 2017 (115 mins.)
Don’t expect a proper retrospective from an artist who once boasted “I only move forwards, never backwards, darling!” Part biographical documentary and part concert film, Bloodlight and Bami captures two worlds of the iconoclastic singer: devoted Jamaican daughter and multifaceted artist. Weaved in between are live performances that are—like Jones herself—visually thrilling and audibly rousing. Pull up to the bumper, baby—you won’t want to miss this film!
8:00 PM - Urgh! A Music War, Dir: Derek Burbidge; 1981 (96 mins.)
In the early 80s some just wanted their MTV, while others craved an all-out war. Urgh! A Music War isn’t exactly a “Battle of the Bands” competition as much as it is a time capsule smorgasbord of every influential genre of the decade—Punk, New Wave, Techno—splattered together in a series of live acts from across the US and Europe. Featuring unforgettable performances from The Cramps, Devo, The Go-Go’s, Gary Numan, Oingo Boingo, The Police and MANY others, this concert film will have you out of your seat and moshing down the aisles. Live it…’cause you can’t stop it!
Sunday, May 19
1:00 PM - Little Richard: I Am Everything, Dir: Lisa Cortes; 2023 (101 mins.)
Good golly, Miss Molly! It’s hard to believe that the “Architect of Rock and Roll” has never been the subject of an extensive documentary before…until now. One of Rock’s most influential figures, Little Richard used charismatic showmanship with frenetic piano playing to become one of the first crossover black (and queer-oriented) artists who played a key role in the formation of several music genres like soul and funk. Little Richard left behind an overwhelming legacy, and Lisa Cortes unpacks it all right here in a film the LA Times described as “embracing, ear-pleasing, and fizzy.”
4:00 PM - 20 Feet from Stardom, Dir: Morgan Neville; 2013 (91 mins.)
Before giving us honest accounts profiling the lives of Fred Rogers and Anthony Bourdain, Morgan Neville shined a spotlight on a subject frequently left in the dark: the backup singer. Using archival footage and new interviews, the Oscar-winning 20 Feet from Stardom shares the behind-the-scenes experiences of some of music’s underrated vocalists, including Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer, and Darlene Love. It’s a long-overdue tribute to an often-overlooked profession.
7:30 PM - It's Different In Chicago, Dir: David Weathersby; 2021 (86 mins.)
House and Hip-Hop music are as essential to Chicago’s culture as deep-dish and ‘Da Bears. Filmmaker David Weathersby chronicles the history of both music scenes, exploring how their rocky relationship complements yet competes. This fascinating documentary takes an in-depth look at how such a sociocultural dynamic stands as a testament to the city’s diversity and its cultural influence on music.