A look into the life of Laurent Garnier, one of the godfathers of electronic dance music, from his emergence on the music scene in the 80’s to now. The story of the last music revolution through the eyes of a pioneer.
The young director Gabin Rivoire convinced Laurent Garnier to allow him to follow him for more than three years.
We thought of this documentary as a collective work. Our project is to bring together as large a community as possible around this film. By involving you in the creative process, we want above all to provide a collective experience for enthusiasts as well as those curious about electronic music.
Laurent Garnier:
For several years now, with my manager, we have received numerous proposals to make a documentary on my career. Those who know me well know that to take part in a project which would have as only topic “me, my life, my work”, without thinking about a more original, deep and participative approach, that is not really my cup of tea. We have therefore never followed up on any project. However, little by little, the idea of a documentary caught on in my head …
As always, to move forward on a project I need to be confident, and especially to be on the same wavelength as well on the aesthetic, the artistic, the human side as on the subject and the fund. For the past 7 years, Gabin Rivoire has been filming the YEAH Festival! that I co-organize with friends in the south of France. I am always very touched by his sense of rhythm, storytelling and staging. I love the intimacy and the poetry that emanates from each of his films, and I am always amazed and moved by the way he uses and films music. For all these reasons, I don’t see any other director than him to consider this documentary project and share my passion for music.
While Laurent Garnier has just celebrated his 30-year career, we follow him in immersion behind the scenes of his 2017/2019 tour from New York to Tokyo via Hong-Kong, Detroit, Brussels and London! We share the euphoria of life as a DJ, the adrenaline rush of the backstage but also the doubts and questions of a 50-year-old artist who realizes that the dancefloors are filled with kids who could be his own children. 30 years of platinum! Why does this music still attract so much? Flashback to the end of the 80s, we return to the legendary dancefloor of the Hacienda in Manchester and the alleys of Detroit – techno is then in full emergence…
The idea of this film is to tell the story of the last great musical revolution of the 20th century, through the prism of the portrait of one of these pioneers: Laurent Garnier! How this kid, son of a fairground, became a knight of the Legion of Honor thanks to his passion for music. Thanks to many speakers ( Derrick May, Jeff Mills, Carl Cox, Lenny Dee, Pedro Winter …), we will tell this story, how this underground cultureconquered the whole world! Talk about the present, discover the daily life of Laurent in his life as a DJ. But we are also going to look at the new generation to try to imagine where the music can go in the future. We will ask the question that Laurent keeps asking himself: Now that techno is on the way to becoming the “mainstream”, where and when will the next musical revolution take place ?
For Laurent, music has always been like a drug, not the one that we swallow but the passion that drives him to become a DJ residing at the Hacienda in 1987, the legendary Manchester club founded by Tony Wilson. While no one believes it, he imports this music to France. He organizes Wake Up parties at the Rex Club and he co-founded the Label Fcommunications with which he launches artists like St Germain or Mr. Oizo.
Long before the global success of Daft Punk and what would later be called the French Touch, Laurent sowed the first seeds of French electro. Twelve years after his debut, in 1998, he received the first Victoire de la Musique for a “dance” album.
In 2017, 30 years after its debut, electronic music is everywhere. Electro is on the way to becoming the “mainstream”, money decides, radios turn it into a product, the DJ becomes “superstar” and many careers last only 2min30. Laurent Garnier, without ever having made any artistic compromise, is still there! He continues to be invited all over the world, in the most specialized clubs. As respected by the underground and the young generation as by institutions and the press, he remains the best ambassador of electronic music.
In constant artistic evolution, as an artist, he contributes to changing the image of electronic music by making it fit into this lair of classical music that is the Salle Pleyel or by composing a broom for Preljocaj in collaboration with the artists. dancers from Bolshoi. In 2017, he celebrated his thirty-year career at the Rex Club and the same month received the title of Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur from Jack Lang.
After brief launch in selected cinemas the documentary will be streaming soon. https://laurent-garnier-off-the-record.lefilm.com
A special vinyl release in conjunction with the film is available.
