Grandma Lo-Fi (Orri Jónsson, Kristín Björk Kristjánsdóttir, Ingibjörg Birgisdóttir | Iceland | 62 min.)
We’ve all been there. Those big creative dreams we had when we were young fall prey to the practical concerns of student loans, rents, and families. Maybe we loved piano lessons as a kid but our father couldn’t afford them. Maybe we fell in love with a sailor but our parents forbid us from seeing him. Maybe we went ahead and saw him anyways. And maybe when his ship sunk and he died, our mother told us: “what you refuse to give up yourself, God will take from you.” After that, maybe we ran away to Iceland, where we worked odd jobs for many years until one day, at the tender age of 70, we rediscovered music.

Grandma Lo-Fi, the directorial debut of three Icelandic musicians, tells just such a story. The story of Sigríður Níelsdóttir, who recorded 600 songs in seven years, mixing together the sounds of household items, pets, found toys, and a Casio keyboard, achieving cult status among Icelandic musicians. One of her albums is all Cowboy songs, another has lyrics that are complete gibberish. Her passion and enthusiasm are infectious. Don’t be surprised if by the end of the film you want to go out and get a Casio keyboard and hand-whisk and start recording homespun hits in your living room.

Shot mostly on Super-8 and 16mm film, Grandma Lo-Fi uses charming lo-fi animation and a delightfully quirky visual style to celebrate the life of a remarkable woman and her irrepressible creative drive.

- Lela Scott MacNeil

12 SKETCHES ON THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF BEING STILL (Magali Charrier | USA | 8 min.)
Dance experiments in animation and editing exploring the spaces where nothing happens.

HOW TO DRAW CLOUDS (Salise Hughes | USA | 2 min.)
Practice in the art of digital sky sketching.

Burt Talks to the Bees (Isabella Rossellini | USA | 2 min.)
Meet the bees—the queen, the workers and the drones—in this wonderfully fantastic and wildly educational series of short films created by Isabella Rossellini, actress, director and uncanny Burt impersonator. Once you meet them, you’ll want to save them too. Visit www.wildforbees.com to see how.

Mr. Silla and Orri Jonsson
Orri Jonsson, one of the film's co-directors and one half of the analog duo Slowblow, will perform with Mr. Silla, a solo performer and member of experimental music collective, Mum. Jonsson will present an all-cassette DJ set of Sigríður music. Mr. Silla's performances combine electronic, blues and folk influences with diverse instrumentation.

Slowblow's self-titled album (their fourth) was released in 2004. They have also scored several films, including The Good Heart and Noi Albinoi. Mum recorded their sixth album, Sing Along to Songs You Don't Know, in 2009; last month, they released Early Birds, a compilation of songs from 1998-2000.