Five years ago, when festival founder Nate Johnson brought Sound Unseen to the masses, he never thought that the festival would last longer than a couple of years, but audiences said otherwise. The community support for this unique festival has helped Sound Unseen grow to a whopping ten-day program. This year is the festival's Fifth Anniversary – a hurdle, if you remember that the 2nd Annual Sound Unseen took place only two weeks after 9/11 and was followed by an economic slump not felt since the late 1970’s. Everybody stand up and slap your fellow film-goer on the back for getting off the couch and going to the theater! After Nate Johnson graciously passed the festival onto a small staff in 2003, we realized just how much great music and film is happening around the world and in Minnesota, making us even more determined to keep this festival alive and bring these accomplishments to the big screens of Minneapolis.

Sound Unseen has seen some small changes over the last four years, but for the most part, has stuck to its original mission – bringing rare films about independent music to Minneapolis, films which will probably never visit these parts again. As I go back over some of the special moments, a few stand out: the very first Sound Unseen compilation CD, stuffed with tracks from national artists, whose music appeared in festival films (2000); rocker-groupie-icon Cynthia Plaster Caster in the flesh (2001); a line extending two blocks to see Westway To The World featuring the Clash (2001); the unique exploration of Plunderphonics (2002); the programs at the Walker Art Center including People Like Us with Vicki Bennett, Fast n’ Bulbous: The Captain Beefheart Project and who could forget The Harder They Come (2002); the sad and inspiring A Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake (2002); the Sound Unseen RoadTrip, five films traveling to seven cities in the Midwest (2002); the world premier of M80 (2003) which chronicled the New-No-Now Wave Festival in 1979 at the University of Minnesota, which sold-out to an eager audience – half of whom actually attended the festival; the rare and beautiful concert footage in Nina Simone: Love Sorceress (2003); Irwin Chusid’s record three visits (soon to be 4!) to Sound Unseen; the first DVD presented by Sound Unseen titled Spectrum: MN Soundtracks Vol. 1 featuring dozens of new local music videos (2003); and who can forget some of our opening night events, including the biggest and probably the best event Sound Unseen has ever presented – Hop Fu (2002). We all rejoiced when DJ’s IXL & Excess scratched a live hip-hop soundtrack to the Kung Fu classic The Prodigal Son. Wow…I can hardly believe that we packed so many great moments into just four years. It’s time to celebrate - and see more films!

Besides the dozens of exceptional new films we’ve programmed, we’d also like to honor our past. Sound Unseen has brought back some audience favorites to present an ENCORE! program, featuring a handful of films that you’ve begged to see again: HOP FU returns with a World Premiere performance of a kung fu classic, Superninjas; American Astronaut; Can: The Documentary and Free Concert; M80; Westway To The World; and Wesley Willis: The Daddy of Rock n’ Roll. We’re also extremely proud to present some fantastic local programs which include a much deserved retrospective of Chuck Statler’s pioneering music videos & films; the local premiere of the Last Word, starring Minnesota music champs Matt Wilson, Mary Lucia and John Munson; Paul Westerberg: Come Feel Me Tremble; new treats from Phil Harder paired with a live orchestra assembled by Creative Electric founder, David Salmela titled “Film Jockeys”; a rarely seen short documentary about local label, Twin Tone; a new collection of music videos on Spectrum: MN Soundtracks Vol. 2; and a special look back at the film Funkytown.

Sound Unseen is also presenting some great live performances that you absolutely need to witness. The founder of Negativland, Mark Hosler, will appear live at Sound Unseen with his program Adventures In Illegal Art. Don’t miss the Minneapolis debut of DBR, an important, boundary-busting artist from Brooklyn. Classically trained on twenty-five instruments, this man slams classical and hip-hop together, delivering an original message with his violin, turntables and band. There are so many great things packed into the festival this year, and I hope that you’ll be able to experience as many programs as your schedule allows – but don’t get lazy, we won’t be bringing them back again and who knows how long this little festival will be around. Thank you Minnesota for a great five years!

-- Gretchen Williams & The Sound Unseen Staff