23rd Annual Sound Unseen Film Festival – A Discussion with Program Director, Rich Gill

Article by Becky Fillinger, photos provided

Now in its 23rd year, Sound Unseen is a niche film festival dedicated to the “role of film and music as a conduit of powerful ideas and diverse viewpoints.” Minneapolis dates are November 9-13. We talked to Program Director Rich Gill about the history and expansion of Sound Unseen and this year’s festival.

Rich GillQ:  Please give our readers a brief history of Sound Unseen.

A:  Sound Unseen started in 1999 as a “films on music” festival showcasing documentaries, narratives, and short films where music is the main focus. Since that time, we have expanded our programming to include films that don’t necessarily have a music focus but still fall under the broad umbrella of creative expression. We’ve screened films about photographers, skateboarders, chefs, comedians, and even some animated films. In addition to expanding our programming we’ve also branched out to other cities. Sound Unseen had a festival in Duluth for a period of time and last year we started doing screenings in Austin, TX.

Don't Full in Love with Yourself is a documentary about the life and music of Justin Pearson, an underground musician and owner of Three One G records.Q:  Your festival was included as “One of 20 Great Film Festivals for First-Time Moviemakers” in MovieMaker Magazine. What is the criteria and process for submitting a film or performance idea to Sound Unseen? Does the selection committee look for first time moviemakers to highlight? How do you go about curating performances to accompany the films selected?

A:  In addition to myself, Festival Director Jim Brunzell, and Shorts Programmer Kat Swenson, we have a fantastic screening committee that consists of people from across the country that all have different tastes and interests when it comes to both film and music. With that said, the only real criteria for submitting a film is we ask that it have something to do with music or the arts. Every year we inevitably get a number of submissions that have nothing to do with either of those things and while we appreciate people submitting to us, we don’t have much use for those films.

We love showcasing first time filmmakers. We also love getting films from people who are seasoned veterans when it comes to filmmaking but there is definitely something special about a first-time filmmaker, especially if they didn’t go to school for filmmaking. There’s an excitement they have that is really great to see and a lot of times they have a way of documenting things that you don’t get from people who have made several films already.

In terms of pairing musical performances with films we just try to figure out what would make the most sense. Obviously, we’re not going to put a heavy metal band in front of a documentary about classical music, although that would be kind of fun to see. We try to find a mix of bands that we know will help draw people to the screening and also ones that might get some exposure from playing in front of a movie that we know will do well. 

In Quantum Cowboys, hapless drifters Frank and Bruno team up with a woman to recover her land and trek across 1870s southern Arizona to find an elusive frontier musician.Q:  Sound Unseen has strong and transparent values, mission and vision statements. One of the values under ‘Community’ states: “We are committed to being a good partner and improving the cultural and economic landscape of our community.” Please tell us how your organization improves our local/regional cultural and economic landscapes.

A:  One of the things we pride ourselves on is working with local companies and organizations during the festival, and really year-round when it comes down to it. Partnering locally benefits everyone involved. It exposes Sound Unseen to an audience that might not normally seek out our screenings and it also puts our partner’s product or organization in front of the Sound Unseen patrons. In terms of the films, we play we are very conscious about making sure we have a program that highlights films with diverse voices that would otherwise not get a chance to screen in the Twin Cities area. Sound Unseen has always made it a point to feature a healthy selection of foreign language films and also movies with BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ filmmakers or subjects. 

Q:  How did Sound Unseen adapt during the COVID shutdowns? Did you learn things that made the festival and organization stronger? 

A:  Like a lot of festivals, we made the pivot to virtual screenings during the shutdown which was a challenge but ultimately opened us up to a wider audience with some of the screenings we did. The interesting thing about it is COVID was kind of the catalyst for expanding our festival to Texas. We had talked about it before so when we went 100% virtual it seemed like the perfect time to give it a shot and thankfully it worked in our favor. I think the biggest thing we learned is exactly what you asked, how to adapt. If we can’t do a festival in person, how can we make it work virtually? What will Q&A’s look like? Will we be able to still have live music be a part of it? Those are all things we had to figure out how to do and then execute in a pretty short window of time.

Q:  Do you have favorites from the November lineup? How do we order passes or tickets?

A:  In no particular order I’m excited about getting the world premiere of DON’T FALL IN LOVE WITH YOURSELF, a documentary about Justin Pearson from the noise punk band The Locust. Director Jon Nix will be in attendance so that will be a fun time. We also have Neko Case and director Geoff Marslett coming to do a Q&A for their film QUANTUM COWBOYS, which is also Neko’s acting debut. Lastly, we are playing a film called CHOP & STEELE which falls into that category of not really being a music film but it definitely fits with the types of films we look for. It’s about the creators of the Found Footage Festival and how they navigated being sued by a television broadcast company. There’s more to it than that but I don’t want to give too much away. It’s highly recommended though. They will also be in attendance along with the co-director for a post screening Q&A along with a music-themed presentation of the Found Footage Festival. Please order tickets here on soundunseen.com.