The fourth annual Chicago International Movies & Music Festival, known as the CIMMfest, kicks off Thursday night with a star-studded premiere of “Queens of Country,” a film in which a lost iPod leads a line-dancer into high-stepping intrigue.
Actors Lizzy Caplan, Joe Lo Truglio and Matt Walsh and directors Ryan Page and Christopher Pomerenke will be in attendance for a Q&A after the 7 p.m. screening at the Wicker Park Arts Center, 2215 W. North.
The next three days feature a host of interesting music-related movies, including documentaries about the Sugarhill Gang, “I Want My Name Back” (7 p.m. Friday, WPAC, featuring a live performance of “Rapper’s Delight” by the rap group’s founding members Wonder Mike and Master Gee); a late-start soul singer, “Charles Bradley: Soul of America” (9 p.m. Friday, Logan Theater, 2646 N. Milwaukee) and Chicago’s underground scene, “Parallax Sounds” (5:30 p.m. Saturday, WPAC). There’s also a retrospective of a great documentarian, “Always for Pleasure and More: Six Music Films by Les Blank” (Friday and Saturday, Logan Theater), and a sneak peek at “Don’t Follow Me (I’m Lost): A Film about Bobby Bare Jr.” (7 p.m. Sunday, the Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia).
For complete ticket, schedule and celebrity appearance information: wwwCIMMfest.org.
Thomas Conner,
pop music critic