Nightlife
9 nightlife and dance music films and TV series to watch right now
From documentaries about superstar DJs and the birth of space disco, to a series exploring the history of rave culture, these films about nightlife and clubbing are available to watch online.
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Club culture as we know it has been around since the mid-to-late ’80s when Chicago and Detroit gifted the world house and techno music. But even after 35-plus years of partying and raving, our desire to go out and let loose remains undimmed – as this collection of films, documentaries and TV series proves.
1. Sleep Comes Tomorrow
55 min
Sleep Comes Tomorrow
Follow a group of musical dreamers, party-lovers and entrepreneurs as they reboot French techno music.
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The French Touch scene made world-famous by Daft Punk, Cassius and Étienne de Crécy didn’t blow up overnight – it was a scene rooted in do-it-yourself culture and risk-taking that, for years, operated outside of the mainstream. And it might be happening all over again.
Paris is alive again thanks to a new generation of ravers, promoters and DJs who are offering an alternative to mainstream club culture by throwing parties wherever they choose to. Jérôme Clément-Wilz’s film, Sleep Comes Tomorrow, follows the Pas-Sage free-party collective as they attempt to organise their next big event.
2. Way Past Midnight
22 min
Caribbean dancehall
The New York City dancehall culture is based on good times, good vibes, personal expression through movement.
A series about the clubbers, dancers, DJs, hip-hop MCs, party organisers, fixed-gear cyclists, skate crews and voguing queens who come to life when the rest of us are tucked up in bed. The first instalment above explores Jamaica’s ever-evolving dancehall scene through the eyes of DANCA.
3. After The Raves
26 min
Ibiza: Rave island
Travelling to the island summer epicentre of EDM, DJ Tommie meets Hardwell, DJ Alfredo and Paul Oakenfold.
Now that rave, club music, EDM, whatever you want to call it has been around for 35-plus years, it has a rich and compelling history that deserves to be explored. But where to begin? In After The Raves, veteran DJ and producer Tommie Sunshine travels to nine cities around the world to find out how dance music has evolved there – and ask where it's heading.
Among the destinations on his round-the-world ticket are Amsterdam, where he meets Afrojack and Don Diablo; Manchester, UK, where he discusses the legacy of the Hacienda with Fatboy Slim; the clubbing utopia of Ibiza, where DJs past and present, Hardwell, DJ Alfredo and Paul Oakenfold, offer their insights; and the modern-day EDM hotspots of LA, Miami and Las Vegas.
4. Northern Disco Lights
From the punks of suburban UK to the techno producers of Detroit, the immediate environment and circumstances that artists find themselves in will nearly always influence the music they make. Just ask the teenagers from Tromsø, Norway, who kickstarted the country’s space-disco scene at the turn of the millennium.
Northern Disco Lights tells the story of how a bunch of isolated (and bored) teenagers in the Arctic city created the wonky, deep and dubby disco sound that is now synonymous with producers like Bjørn Torske, Lindstrøm, Prins Thomas and Todd Terje, and labels like Smalltown Supersound and Full Pupp.
5. Inspire The Night
Behind every incredible night out, there will be a team of promoters, organisers and creative magicians working hard to ensure you have an unforgettable experience. Inspire The Night travels the world, from New York and LA to Mexico, Brazil and China, to meet those responsible for the parties and club nights pushing things forward.
6. I Am Hardwell
If you've ever wondered how a DJ goes from playing third on the bill to becoming a global phenomenon, I Am Hardwell is the film for you.
For two-and-a-half years, film-maker Robin Piree followed Hardwell (real name: Robbert van de Corput) around the world, capturing a whirlwind period in which the Dutch DJ was catapulted from up-and-coming talent into an international EDM superstar voted the world’s number one DJ in 2013 and 2014.
Piree’s film shows how much joy there is in achieving your childhood dreams, but also how the pressure of world-beating success can take its toll.
7. 24 Hours with Kiddy Smile
Growing up in a poor Parisian suburb, life wasn’t easy for Kiddy Smile. Crime and violence were rife and opportunities slim. But Smile found salvation in his weekly dance lessons, where he was exposed to disco, hip-hop and funk, and, eventually, a more feminine form of movement that won him roles in videos by George Michael and Yelle, and onstage performances with The Gossip and LCD Soundsystem.
The big turning point, however, came when Smile discovered the LGBTQ+ voguing scene and the Paris branch of iconic New York Ball House, The House Of Ninja, set up by Harlem-born dancer Lasseindra Ninja. Finding acceptance in this growing Ballroom scene, Smile began expressing himself with music, mixing genres and influences to record his debut album, One Trick Pony. This is his story.
8. Rave and Resistance
43 min
Rave & Resistance
Journey back to 1990s South Africa when dance music evolved from a collaboration of black and white artists.
Rave and Resistance offers a fascinating insight into the arrival of house and techno music in early ’90s South Africa – a pivotal moment for the country. For a nation going through enormous changes, as it neared the end of apartheid, dance music offered artists and party people on both sides of the segregating colour line the chance to let loose and forge new, inter-connected scenes.
Zandi Tisani’s documentary film focuses on Johannesburg club culture and the era's broader social changes, taking us back to 1989 and a feeling of youthful rebellion with old footage and interviews with pioneers of South African house music Vinny Da Vinci and DJ Christos, Trompies, Lebo Mathosa and Boom Shaka.
9. Fuse
29 min
Fuse
At Fuse, a nightclub in Brussels, Belgium, everyone has the same unwritten purpose: enjoying techno music.
When Peter Decuypere decided to open a home for Belgian techno fans back in 1994, he was well ahead of the curve. So far, in fact, that Brussels’ now-legendary Fuse club, housed in a former 1920s cinema, struggled at first, unable to find its audience. But as techno took over the world, Fuse was eventually transformed into one of Europe’s most revered clubs and, as one of Belgium's longest-running nightlife institutions, has attracted big names from Carl Craig, Richie Hawtin, Robert Hood and Aphex Twin to Daft Punk, Björk and Peggy Gou.
The documentary film above looks back at Fuse’s incredible history, weaving in candid interviews around amazing old footage of ravers going for it on the club’s colossal dancefloor.
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