All anybody wanted to do when they stepped out of the French Waves screening on Saturday was not only to go back to the nineties and rave on with Daft Punk, Cassius or Justice but also rush out and listen to the new artists they had discovered in the documentary.
Some films depict the essence of an époque so well you can only feel a sort a regret and bitterness when the credits roll. A fleeing sentiment that times where better before, people cooler, parties greater, ah, those where the days. If you are in search of this kind of nostalgia, Julian Starke’s movie is not for you. Indeed, what motivated this French 25-year-old to compose a documentary on the period, starting in the 90’s, where French electronic music soared to universal gratification isn’t pure wistfulness.
The real subject of his film is transmission. How in effect a generation inspires another. How one country, one city, gives the first push of inspiration to another city that then in turn inspires the first one. French Waves isn’t some memorabilia, it’s a testament to the vivacity of the electronic music landscape today. The documentary travels through time jumping from interview to interview with some of the greatest artists of the past 30 years but also gives a voice to young up and coming musicians.
The documentary first brings us to the birth of house and techno music. The journey starts in Detroit and Chicago in the 80’s where it all started, originally played only in gay clubs. It then travelled to Europe and the documentary portrays the first raves organized in France at a time where the non-existence of google maps or Facebook didn’t facilitate anything. You can see Pedro Winter, manager for none other than Daft Punk, Justice, Cassius or Breakbot telling us about the times when they would get so lost in the gloomy suburbs getting to the raves they would often arrive at five in the morning, around the same time as the police. Throughout the documentary all these great names from the electronic industry tell us about their story but most of all about their inspiration and what they think of the next generation of musicians. That is where Julian Starke’s documentary is compelling as he mixes up testimony from young up and coming artists as well as the generation that preceded them. We see Rone, a young DJ, in Detroit, fascinated by the run down industrialist architecture because, to him, this landscape is the essence of techno. We see Jacques creating and searching for sounds in his atelier and Fakear talking to us about modern social media. Everything is mixed up, the old talking about the new, the new talking about the old and it gives the impression of a highly dynamic and vibrant music scene.
Of course Starke is well positioned to know about the music scene as he has been one of the founding members of the collective Pain Surprise that rocked Paris with roaring parties these past six years. Most of his friends from the collective are musicians and the film crystalizes moments of creation as well as when they’re on tour or facing crowds of thousands dancing to their rhythm.
All in all, this documentary is about passionate people who talk about what they love to do. And, as is every passionate person, they want to share and communicate the pleasure and joy they’ve harvested through their art and Starke does very well in sharing his passion for film and music through his documentary by reminding us that art and creation is first and foremost transmission.
We screened the film at Rendez-Vous With French Cinema presented by Unifrance and Film Society Lincoln Center.
