"Iceland: Beyond Sigur Ros" (director: Brett Gregory)

Here's a really lovely and enlightened short film (all of 30 minutes) examining the music of Iceland, featuring such names as Ólafur Arnalds. Seabear, Mugison, and a lot of lesser-known and diverse talents, from the death metal of Severed Crotch to the dance pop of Sykur. Filmed in glorious HD, this film isn't about Sigur Ros, but about the indie music scene in Iceland. It can be seen FREE at Serious Feather's site here.

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"$100 And A T-Shirt: A Documentary About Zines In The Northwest US" DVD

As an old-school zine-maker myself (19 issues, thank you very much), this documentary serves as a wonderful summation of what drives certain people to create their own indie press publications. Focusing on the Portland-Seattle scenes, '$100 And A T-Shirt' was created on a shoestring budget by indie filmmaker Joe Biel, and it features a wealth of interviews with various publishers and writers from all walks of life and interests, resulting in a sort of symposium on the 'hows' and 'whys' of small-press publishing. It's really an enlightening and inspiring mix of subcultures who share a belief in the power of individual freedom and interpersonal relationships through art. It's great to see that this mode of expression is alive and well, especially in this era of impersonal blogging and mystalkerspace. This may well be the definitive portrait of this phenomenon and subculture. Long live zines! (Microcosm Publishing)