The documentary film format has been good to rock music's great unknowns in recent years. Witness Searching for Sugar Man's 2012 Oscar. 

The story of Detroit proto-punk band Death finally gets its due in A Band Called Death, a documentary by Mark Covino and Jeff Howlett on the '70s-era trio formed by the Hackney brothers. The band was rediscovered in recent years via rare vinyl blogs and eventually through reissues on the Chicago Drag City label. The doc takes us through this process and delves into the history of the band, which recorded high-energy Motor City-style rock on a 1974 demo table that sounds as punk and unhinged as what was later unleashed by the Sex Pistols and Bad Brains. They turned down a contract from Clive Davis, apparently, which required them to change their name and, later, Death members settled into a gig as a popular reggae band in Burlington, Vermont. They have since reunited for tours.

Presently, the film is touring small festivals—it debuted at 2012's Los Angeles Film Festival.