In the Mix

The Philadelphia Independent Film Festival, screening in bowling alleys, parks and cafes around Northern Liberties this weekend, is chock full of music documentaries.

There are a lot of intriguing titles. Nerdcore For Life (below) focuses on proud hip-hop geeks in the hobbit of rapping about their Lords of the Rings and computer science obsessions.

I'm a little suspicious of Bob Marley & Friends (above), which promises to be "an extravaganza of sight and sound bringing Bob Marley to life in a unique giant screen concert experience," because "& Friends" implies we're going to get less of Marley, and more of co-stars like Tracy Chapman.

I'm hoping Record Store, a 34 minute short by former Temple grad student turned Towson University prof Matthew Durington is sexier than it's academic self-description as an "ethnographic video" that "explores a number of topics including discussions of the relative value of material culture, issues of addiction and collection and how the world of popular music and DJ culture relate to larger social issues such as race and gender in the United States."

George Manney's Pipes of Peace explores the music and life of late Philadelphia jazz bagpipes player Rufus Harley. Salvation Blues is a half hour film about former Jayhawks country-rock singer Mark Olson, in solo mode after the breakup of his marriage to Victoria Williams.

And What's Left Behind is a tour doc that follows the Atlanta indie band Manchester Orchestra out on the road. There are schedules for Friday through Sunday screening at the Fest web site. Here's Tirdad Derakhshani's Philmadelphia story. The trailer for What's Left Behind is below.