Sound Unseen Film & Music Festival

For a film festival with such a narrow focus, this weeklong exhibition of movies about music certainly covers a lot of ground. The third incarnation of “Sound Unseen” gathers more than three dozen films touching on reggae, punk, Islamic song, lesbian folk—well, you get the idea. The schedule’s especially packed with biographies, retrospectively cataloguing Sonic Youth, Femi Kuti, John Lee Hooker, dead Volkswagen pitchman Nick Drake, and bluegrass king Ralph Stanley, among others. Other worthwhile offerings find gold in the oddball fringes, like Irwin Chusid’s bizarre collection of “incorrect music videos,” or the Oscar-winning Thoth, a compelling look at a guy who writes sci-fi operas in a language of his own invention, and sings them for spare change while wandering the New York sidewalks in a loincloth. Trust us, it’s better than it sounds. Don’t miss Tribute , a hilarious and often downright weird expose of the subculture of cover bands, a world of titanic jealousies and artistic ambitions no less real just because the musicians pretend to be somebody else. Sound Unseen Festival (612) 379-0888, www.soundunseen.com