Welcome to our 32nd edition of Reel Music. We’ve been on the lookout all year for new works—and timely classics— for this annual celebration of sound and image, music and culture, and the origins of sounds infused in our experience. Whether your passion is jazz, blues, rock, soul, folk, funk, or punk, we hope you find this mixture of old and new, familiar and strange, to be full of inspiration and discovery. As always, our special thanks go to Music Millennium, Willamette Week, Walker, Day & Koch LLP, Oregon Music News, KINK.fm, MusicFestNW, All Classical Portland, PDX Jazz, KIND Healthy Snacks, XRAY.FM, KMHD, PDX Pipeline, Yelp!, Vortex Magazine and Portland Radio Project.
20,000 Days on Earth
Directed by Ian Forsyth, Jane Pollard
An inventive ode to creativity, 20,000 Days on Earth fuses drama and reality by weaving the journey of a fictional …
Beautiful Noise
Directed by Eric Green
"Although it's one of the most radical and influential movements in contemporary music, having given birth to some of the …
Billy Mize and the Bakersfield Sound
Directed by William J. Saunders
Billy Mize was instrumental in defining the Bakersfield Sound, the exhilarating, innovative movement that both changed country music and influenced …
Breadcrumb Trail
Directed by Lance Bangs
Even those who haven’t heard Slint have heard Slint. Not only did the band’s members go on to perform with …
Charlie Haden: Rambling Boy
Directed by Reto Caduff
Music legends don’t come any more unassuming than Charlie Haden. Courtesy of Reto Caduff’s charming documentary, we discover that the …
Harlem Street Singer: The Guitar Gospel of Reverend Gary Davis
Directed by Simeon Hutner
One of the truly great American ragtime, blues and gospel musicians, Reverend Gary Davis’ (1896-1972) unique style and virtuoso skill …
Heaven Adores You
Directed by Nickolas Rossi
When Portland singer/songwriter Elliott Smith died in 2003, it left a gaping hole in the indie rock community throughout the …
Jimmy Scott: If You Only Knew
Directed by Matthew Buzzell
Jazz vocal legend Jimmy Scott’s (1925-2014) distinctive voice was able to effortlessly caress high notes in a range that no …
Jingle Bell Rocks!
Directed by Mitchell Kezin
Christmas music is sort of a love-it-or-hate-it affair. Whatever your persuasion, however, you’re bound to be caught up in the …
Johnny Winter: Down & Dirty
Directed by Greg Olliver
Director Greg Olliver spent two years following Johnny Winter to France, Japan and beyond to create this intimate, aptly named …
Lady be Good: Instrumental Women in Jazz
Directed by Kay Ray
The International Sweethearts of Rhythm. The Syncoettes. Carol Kaye. The substantial contributions of woman to jazz music have been largely …
Nas: Time is Illmatic
Directed by One9
Multimedia artist One9’s follows the trajectory of Nas’ 1994 landmark debut album, Illmatic, one of the most important and revolutionary albums in …
Nosferatu
Directed by F.W. Murnau
The first gothic horror film, and a key work of German expressionism, Nosferatu was influenced by Freud’s new ideas of sexual …
Razing the Bar
Directed by Ryan Worsley
Loud, messy, and often outrageous, The Funhouse was one of Seattle’s landmark punk rock venues. From 2003 to 2012, the …
Sound of Redemption: The Frank Morgan Story
Directed by N.C. Heikin
This soulful documentary illuminates the hell-and-back life of the late, great L.A. alto sax legend Frank Morgan. A prodigy who …
Stop Making Sense
Directed by Jonathan Demme
Thirty years after its release, Demme’s extraordinary Talking Heads concert movie, filmed over the course of three days at Hollywood’s …
Strictly Sacred: The Story of Girl Trouble
Directed by Isaac Olsen
Tacoma garage rock band Girl Trouble has always traveled on their own unique and idiosyncratic musical path. For over 30 …
Super Duper Alice Cooper
Directed by Reginald Harkema
Born Vincent Furnier, the son of a preacher, Alice Cooper emerged from the Detroit scene of the 1970s in a …
The 78 Project Movie
Directed by Alex Steyermark
The 78 Project Movie is a road trip across America to make one-of-a-kind 78 rpm records with musicians in their hometowns …
The Ballad of Shovels and Rope
Directed by Jace Freeman
When filming started, Cary Ann Hearst was waiting tables and Michael Trent was working as a studio artist while the …
The Byrd Who Flew Alone: The Triumphs and Tragedy of Gene Clark
Directed by Paul Kendall, Jack Kendall
Bob Dylan described Missouri-born country boy Gene Clark as one of the three best songwriters in the world. The original …
The Case of the Three-Sided Dream
Directed by Adam Kahan
Rahsaan Roland Kirk (1935-1977) was more than a blind musician who could play three horns at once, more than one …
Tosca’s Kiss
Directed by Daniel Schmid
Giuseppe Verdi called it his “finest work”: the world’s first home for retired opera musicians. Standing in Milan since 1896, …
Velvet Goldmine
Directed by Todd Haynes
“This witty, evocative re-creation of the heady days of glam rock is loosely structured on the lines of a Citizen …