A rhythmically charged program of film to satisfy the music fanatics among us, Backbeat spans rock, hip-hop, country, jazz and soul. Prepare to be sonically transported.

	AUTOLUMINESCENT: ROWLAND S. HOWARD (Australia, 100 min) "Rowland was Australia's most unique, gifted and uncompromising guitarist." - Nick Cave Guitarist, songwriter and artist Rowland S. Howard was an instrumental figure in the Australian rock scene, particularly renowned for his role in seminal post-punk outfit The Birthday Party. In a career spanning 30 years Howard worked with the best artists of his generation, including Henry Rollins, Lydia Lunch and Ollie Olsen. His was a singular talent, cut short by an untimely death in 2009. More >
	THE BALLAD OF GENESIS AND LADY JAYE (USA, 72 min) "A touching portrait of two kooky, kinky lovebirds who sought to become one 'pandrogynous being'." - Variety There's no doubt that Genesis P-Orridge - outlandish performance artist, industrial-rock pioneer and founder of proto-punk band Throbbing Gristle - is a singular individual, a man pushing at the bounds of art, society and taste in all aspects of his life. When he met dominatrix Lady Jaye in the early 90s, he was swept up in a romance with an extraordinary culmination: they decided to use plastic surgery to become identical. More >
	BEATS, RHYMES & LIFE: THE TRAVELS OF A … (USA, 98 min) Hollywood actor Michael Rapaport brings the story of hip-hop's finest to the screen with a fan's devotion. Prior to their breakup in 1998, the legendary A Tribe Called Quest were pioneers of alternative hip-hop, fusing jazz sounds with a creative lyrical approach that resonated with fans against the gangsta-heavy posturing of early 90s rap. More >
	BEN LEE: CATCH MY DISEASE (Australia, 83 min) A playful yet profoundly intimate portrait of singer-songwriter Ben Lee, and a fascinating portrayal of celebrity. Destined for stardom, Ben Lee cemented his place in the annals of Australian pop with his catchy tunes and his extraordinary self-confidence. Despite a remarkable musical career that has taken him from the suburbs of Sydney to the boroughs of New York, Lee's private life has largely remained an enigma until now. More >
	BETTER THAN SOMETHING - JAY REATARD (USA, 90 min) "Some people think you have a certain amount of songs before you dry up. I tend to think it's like an amount of time, so I'm racing against time constantly." - Jay Reatard In 2010, at the age of 29, garage rock legend Jay Reatard was found dead in his Memphis home, a lethal cocktail of booze and cocaine in his system. His death cut short a controversial and much remarked upon career that redefined American punk. More >
	THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975 (Sweden, 100 min) A fascinating, musically driven nine-year journey through a period of major social upheaval in the US. A treasure trove of archived film reels, rescued from the vaults of Swedish television, form the basis for this hard-hitting documentary from Göran Hugo Olsson, a tour de force that illuminates the heyday of the US's Black Power movement and the political hysteria that surrounded it. More >
	I'M NOT DEAD YET (Australia, 95 min) Meet Chad Morgan, the dentally challenged king of Australian country music. For almost 60 years, Chad Morgan has been one of country Australia's quintessential and most beloved troubadours. A man who has come to represent the comic voice of the Australian outback, Morgan, now 78, still tours constantly, his charm and boisterous tales speaking to a vision of Australia many assume to be gone. More >
	LennoNYC (USA, 112 min) "New York became a part of who John and I were. We couldn't have existed the same way anywhere else." - Yoko Ono Just when you thought nothing new could be said or seen of John Lennon, Michael Epstein comes along with a fresh, eye-opening look at the final decade of Lennon's life following his move with Yoko Ono to New York City in 1971. More >
	MICHEL PETRUCCIANI (France/Germany/Italy, 102 min) "A soulful portrait of an artist who allowed nothing to stand in the way of his embrace of life and his huge talent." - Hollywood Reporter Short in stature but big in talent, Michel Petrucciani was a virtuoso jazz musician whose brief life blazed brightly with ability, charisma and hedonism. Born with brittle bone disease, Petrucciani only grew to three feet in height, but towered over his contemporaries with his astoundingly rapid and inventive playing that saw him become the first-ever French artist signed to the legendary Blue Note label. More >
	PERSECUTION BLUES: THE BATTLE FOR THE T… (Australia, 57 min) "The Tote is as important to the history of Australian rock'n'roll as New York's CBGB's was to punk." - Mess + Noise Persecution Blues is Natalie van den Dungen's love letter to The Tote's cherished place within the Melbourne music community. From the little Collingwood pub's riotous 21st birthday through to the epic battle for The Tote's survival in 2010 - as 20,000 people took to the streets to protest the venue's closure - this is a passionate doco about a pub with poor lighting and sticky carpet that could lay claim to being one of the most beloved and infamous live music venues in Australia. More >
	SING YOUR SONG (USA, 98 min) "To call [this] an epic might seem overblown, but it isn't just the story of man, but the story of a country and a century." - Variety Chosen to open the Sundance Film Festival, Sing Your Song blazes through the life of American singer and icon Harry Belafonte. More >
	THE SWELL SEASON (USA, 90 min) "Tenderly dismantles the romantic mythology surrounding indie smash Once." - Hollywood Reporter Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglová shot to fame after they won the 2008 Best Song Oscar and two Grammys for 'Falling Slowly', a song from the music film Once (MIFF 2007), in which they played a couple falling in love while making music. With life imitating art, the two gradually fell into a romance while touring together. More >
	TROUBADOURS (USA, 91 min) A documentary love letter to the LA singer-songwriter scene of the early 70s that took the world by storm. As the heady days of 60s political folk started to decline, LA found itself home to the rise of a new singer-songwriter movement - one that, by the time the 70s had rolled around, had arrived at the forefront of popular music. More >