Director Alex Steyermark revisit his musical roots with a tale that chronicles the rise of a band in the 1980s American indie rock scene. The documentary “From Baghdad to Brooklyn,” meanwhile follows a gay Iraqi refugee in the Middle East who is brought to America by an American journalist to live the ‘American Dream.’ Also in the works this week, a bleak futuristic tale, garbage truck dancers, and the story of a disease stricken man intent on building his own helicopter.

“Losers Take All”
Director: Alex Steyermark
Principal Cast: Kyle Gallner, Allison Scagliotti, Tania Raymonde, Alexia Rasmussen, Aaron Himelstein, Billy Kay and Adam Herschman
Screenplay: Andrew Pope and Winn Coslick
Producers: Mike S. Ryan, Andrew Pope and Winn Coslick
Executive Producers: Andrew Meyer and Roger Rawlings

Director Alex Steyermark returns to his musical roots with his follow up to “One Last Thing,” “Losers Take All,” a film that chronicles the rise of a fictional band in the mid 1980s American indie rock scene.

Steyermark has been working behind the scenes as a music supervisor, editor and producer since 1998 on projects as varied as “The Boxer,” “The Ice Storm” and “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.” His feature film debut “Prey for Rock & Roll,” had a musical kick to it, similar to “Losers Take All.”

“I’ve always been attracted to that intersection of music and film,” Steyermark told indieWIRE from Memphis where he’s in week two of the month long shoot. ““Prey” was great way into directing. I wasn’t sure I wanted to do another rock and roll movie. But the truth is I probably have a few more in me.”

A cast that includes Kyle Gallner (“A Nightmare on Elm Street”), Billy Kay (“Yelling to the Sky”), Aaron Himelstein (“Joan of Arcadia”) and newcomer Peter Brensinger round out the punk/pop band The Fingers, that the film profiles. Billed as a ‘raucous love letter to an era when for most bands, life meant touring around the country in a cramped van, sleeping on the floors of strangers, and selling your records after each show,’ the film features original music penned by Marshall Crenshaw (who co-wrote the Golden Globe and Grammy nominated title track to “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story”) and Memphis bred Scott Bomar.

Steyermark said he lucked out by casting actors who already had experience playing an instrument. “I met with them [the actors] individually to get a sense of their personalities and how they would gel,” Steyermark said. “I trust my instincts.”

To gear them up for production Steyermark had his cast rehearse two weeks prior to shooting, with scene rehearsal in the morning and band practice in the afternoon. “Luckily they gelled as a band right away,” Steyermark said. “People around town come up and ask what band they’re in.”

So far, Steyermark said production has been going smoothly with no hiccups to speak of. “We have an ambitious schedule, with a lot of script pages and musical performances,” Steyermark said. “We’re using some live vocals, which add a whole layer of complexity. But I’m comfortable with it. I’m working with such a great team. We’ve just been having fun.”

Production is slated to wrap up on September 11.