Thanks to the huge success of last year’s Club Congress 20th Anniversary party which turned Labor Day weekend into a joyous reunion of the Tucson music scene from the 1980s to present, Dave Slutes at Club Congress organized another weekend of superlative music this year.

Last year, as a relative newcomer to Tucson, I watched Michael Toubassi’s engaging documentary “High and Dry” about the evolution of the Tucson music scene and it provided me with the perfect intro for a weekend of great music. This year, Toubassi curated a film festival of music-related flicks to go along with the music fest, and for those of you who missed it, he pulled together an excellent collection of films.

Duane Hollis, Jason Steed, and Michael Toubassi at the fest

Under the title of the Tucson Film Festival, the films played at the Screening Room on Congress Street downtown, a short walk from Hotel Congress. Toubassi opened the fest on Saturday with a program of short films, many of them music videos. All of the shorts were fun, and most were related to music from Tucson. Toubassi’s low-key video for Howe Gelb’s song “She Towers Above” stood out with its improvised and playful moments in Gelb’s kitchen. The video captures the mood of the song perfectly. Very sweet. And the stark, kinetic Doo Rag video of “Trudge” rocked my world.

Allison Anders’ feature “Border Radio,” about relationships in the LA punk rock scene of the 1980s, followed the shorts program. I’ll never forget seeing Anders’ breakout hit “Gas, Food, Lodging” in 1992, but nothing that she’s directed since has quite measured up. “Border Radio” was her first feature, and it feels very clunky at times, but it also has hipster cache with stars like Chris D (The Flesh Eaters) and John Doe (X).

Doe fills his role as a tough-guy rock musician effortlessly and he was my favorite part of the movie. Anders also uses cut-away interviews with the characters in a mock-documentary style that is now numbly familiar from reality television, but in this case the interviews often come across as more genuine than the dramatic scenes. The film is far more interesting as a time capsule of 1980s LA rocker attitude than as a narrative, and on that level I got a kick out of it.

The first day of the festival closed with another film by Toubassi, “Going Back to Tucson,” a concert footage documentary about last year’s Club Congress anniversary party.

Shoebomb rocks in “Going Back to Tucson”

I saw the film during its second screening on Monday. The movie features dozens of performances by many different bands, and Toubassi picks one song for each band. I was there last year, so many of the scenes brought back happy memories and the film captures the mood and intensity of the live shows. In particular Greyhound Soul’s rendition of “Do What You Do” held me rapt. The footage of Bob Log III, Tom Walbank, Gentlemen After Dark, Friends of Dean Martin, Spoke and Howe Gelb was also exceptional, and all the sequences were deftly edited by Jonathan Pulley of “Move Me” fame.

During the closing credits, the tantalizing snippet of Shoebomb’s performance sparked my desire for a full song. And, unfortunately, the sound quality was uneven. Fans that I talked to after the screening longed for some accompanying material about the event itself and the thrilling reunion spirit. The energy generated offstage by the convergence of artists, old friends and devoted fans was giddy, and it would be great to see some of that on video. An excellent effort all around and I look forward to a final cut from Toubassi.

I also checked out “Ghost on the Highway,” an “interview-driven” documentary about the talented and self-destructive Jeffrey Lee Pierce, frontman of the cult fave punk band The Gun Club. Director Kurt Voss does a great job of telling Pierce’s roller-coaster tale from fame to flame-out through the voices of the guys who played in his band, and the interviews bring the singer’s personality to life. Alas, none of Pierce’s music was included, which would have lifted the sordid behind-the-scenes tale to a new level. This may be a copyright issue but I hope Voss can include some tracks eventually. Despite the lack of music from The Gun Club, however, the film weaves an engagingly dark story of tormented talent.

Two more music documentaries were included, “Before the Music Dies” by Andrew Shapter about the current state of the music industry and “Valley Fever: Green on Red – Live at the Rialto” by Dan Vinik. Unfortunately, I missed both docs, so if you’re reading this and saw them, please weigh in with your comments!

Many thanks to Michael Toubassi for organizing the event, to the Screening Room for hosting and to Dave Slutes for organizing the festival weekend.