Danny Clinch, Taryn Gould, Coleen Hennessy, and Shannon Hoon’s ALL I CAN SAY: Sound Unseen wraps up 20th Anniversary edition with Grand Jury Prize Winner

Danny Clinch, Taryn Gould, Coleen Hennessy, and Shannon Hoon’s ALL I CAN SAY: Sound Unseen wraps up 20th Anniversary edition with Grand Jury Prize Winner

The Sound Unseen Film + Music Festival concluded its 20^th Anniversary edition of the film festival by giving its Grand Jury Prize for Best Film to Danny Clinch, Taryn Gould, Coleen Hennessy, and Shannon Hoon’s ALL I CAN SAY, and giving a Special Jury Prize for Cultural Significance to Puloma Basu and Rob Hatch-Miller’s OTHER MUSIC.

This year’s jury included; Cyn Colllins (Host, KFAI-FM and Author, Complicated Fun: the Birth of Minneapolis Punk and Indie Rock, 1974-1984); Matt Grady (Founder, Factory 25), Megan Leonard (Film Festival Programmer, SIFF, Producer, MIXTAPE MARAUDERS, YOU MEAN EVERYTHING TO ME); Justin Courtney Pierre (Singer/Guitarist, Motion City Soundtrack); and Robyne Robinson (Emmy-winning broadcaster, Principal Consultant, fivexfive Public Art).

Sound Unseen Festival Director Jim Brunzell and Producer/Co-Programmer Rich Gill, said, “Our 20^th Anniversary edition was a special one in many ways, with memorable appearances by John Doe, Ondi Timoner, filmmakers traveling from around the world to be here, amazing live music enhancing our festival, and more. And we are thrilled for ALL I CAN SAY, whose screenings were one of the great highlights this year bringing audiences from several surrounding states to celebrate the life of Blind Melon’s Shannon Hoon through this wonderful film.”

The winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Film ALL I CAN SAY utilizes the footage that Shannon Hoon, lead singer of the rock band Blind Melon, filmed himself from 1990-95 (recording up until a few hours before his sudden death at the age of 28). The artful documentary takes what essentially was a video diary, meticulously documenting the life of a young man from a small town in Indiana in the midst of becoming a musical sensation, while dealing with the pressures and expectations of that new world, and the temptations of his drug addiction – and turns it into a visual mosaic and exploration of Hoon’s emotional and intellectual processing of the ground constantly shifting under his feet. The Sound Unseen jury cited the film for assembling a seamless narrative fever dream depicting the internal struggle of the rise and fall of a troubled musician with empathy and creative editing and storytelling.” 

ALL I CAN SAY made its Midwest premiere at Sound Unseen with co-director Taryn Gould attending two sold-out screenings of the films during the festival, which even included a marriage proposal between two Blind Melon fans prior to one of the screenings. Gould said, “We couldn’t have been more grateful for the invitation to screen ALL I CAN SAY at Sound Unseen and are elated and honored that the film won the Grand Jury Prize.  From our sold out screenings, to meeting the other filmmakers in attendance to the fabulous team that put this festival together, it was an unforgettable weekend.  The Midwest is where Shannon Hoon was born and raised so screening the film here added another layer of depth to an already profound experience. It took more than a decade to bring this film to fruition and we are so happy that it was celebrated by such lovers of film and music in the great city of Minneapolis.”

Basu and Hatch-Miller’s OTHER MUSIC documents the influential and uncompromising New York City record store that was vital to the city’s early 2000s indie music scene and the impact (and loss) that occurred when the store was forced to close its door due to rent increases, the homogenization of urban culture, and the shift from CDs to downloadable and streaming music. The Jury awarded the film the Special Jury Prize for Cultural Significance “for documenting the final days of a cultural institution that supported budding musicians and provided an encyclopedic knowledge for music-lovers hoping to discover new artists.”

Highlights of Sound Unseen’s 20^th Anniversary edition included a standing room only reading and book signing of More Fun in the New World, at Extreme Noise Records by X’s John Doe and the director of X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC, W.T. Morgan, followed by a triple-threat screening event at the Parkway Theater of the film with Morgan, producer Alizabeth Foley, and Doe, in attendance, followed by 2-time Sundance winner Ondi Timoner’s SEEING THROUGH PAUL, her never before publically screened film about The Replacements’ Paul Westerberg, and her seminal rock doc classic, DIG!. The X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC trio received a standing ovation at the conclusion of their Q&A, and Timoner was on hand to dole out behind-the-scenes tales about both films for fans of Westerberg, the Dandy Warhols, and Brian Jonestown Massacre. Earlier in the fest, Timoner appeared with a presentation of the Director’s Cut of MAPPLETHORPE.

There was an international flavor brought to Sound Unseen with appearances by Australia’s Jeremy Dylan with his film TOMMY EMMANUEL: THE ENDLESS ROAD, and Simon David, who flew in to Minneapolis from Romania for the North American premiere of his film TIME AND PLACE, to a sell-out house to celebrate Canadian singer-songwriter legend Gordon Lightfoot’s birthday with a screening of Martha Kehoe and Joan Tosoni‘s GORDON LIGHTFOOT: IF YOU COULD READ MY MIND. Other highlights included a lively post-screening discussion among local music promoters (including Skyway Theater’s James Decoursey, Sue McLean & Associates’ Shayna Melgaard, and Target Center’s Amy Rahja) following a screening of Molly Bernstein and Philip Dolin’s THE SHOW’S THE THING: LEGENDARY PROMOTERS OF ROCK., and live music performances throughout the film festival including Katy Vernon, Maybe Nebraska, Amy Abts Niki Beverly, the John Magnusson Trio, with Saint Small, Wild Planet, and Sick Things all performing during Sound Unseen’s Closing Night Party at VFW Uptown.

Danny Clinch, Taryn Gould, Coleen Hennessy, and Shannon Hoon’s ALL I CAN SAY: Sound Unseen wraps up 20th Anniversary edition with Grand Jury Prize Winner