Hang the DJ (film)

Hang The DJ is a 1998 music documentary film debut by identical twin brothers Marco and Mauro La Villa. The idea for this documentary came to them in 1992 while they were working at their uncle's pizza store on St-Laurent Boulevard in Montreal to help pay tuition for a degree in Film Studies at Concordia University. The brothers originally had no interest in DJs or documentaries but became interested in the scene after working late nights and meeting the regular neighborhood club crowd. Mauro has said, "we heard a lot about the gossip and conflicts of the DJ world",[1] which gave the brothers the idea to make a documentary by following disc jockeys around the world to get a sense of what being a DJ really was. Featuring Roger Sanchez, Junior Vasquez, DJ Qbert and A-Trak, the film presents the cult of DJs in the era that catapulted them into superstars from the underground. The documentary contains a mix of DJ sets from around the globe counterbalanced with commentary from fans and interviews with the DJs.

Hang the DJ
Directed byMarco La Villa
Mauro La Villa
Produced byMarco La Villa
Mauro La Villa
Henrique Vera Villanueva
Andrea Kragaris (Executive Producer)
Carlos Orengo (Executive Producer)
Rafael Rodriguez (Executive Producer)
Diego Briceno (Associate Producer)
Solieman Mellali (Associate Producer)
Vincenzo Scanzano (Associate Producer)
StarringRoger Sanchez
Junior Vasquez
DJ Qbert
Mix Master Mike
John "Jellybean" Benitez
Carl Cox
Claudio Coccoluto
Kool DJ Red Alert
CinematographyStephen Reizes
Steve Beasse
Bill St. John
Edited byJules Collette
Distributed byPony Canyon
Release date
18 September 1998 (Canada)
Running time
90 minutes
LanguageEnglish
Budget$900,000

The film's name comes from the lyrics of the 1986 song "Panic" by The Smiths, which Mauro described as "the anthem of our high school years".[2]

Production

The film was shot over a period of two years throughout 1996 and 1997. The shooting locations encompassed many cultural hubs from around the world, including Amsterdam, Cannes, Essen, Liverpool, London, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Madrid, Miami, Montreal, New York City, Nottingham, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C.[3]

Release

Locations

Hang the DJ premiered at the 1998 Toronto International Film Festival in September 1998[4][5] and also screened at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam,[6] the Stockholm International Film Festival,[7] the Melbourne International Film Festival[8] and the New Zealand International Film Festival[9] previous to its theatrical release.[10] The film was later released in a select 13 Canadian cities and lasted four weeks in Cineplex Odeon theaters through the month of January in 2001; continuing to run in select second-run cinemas until March.[2][11]

Merchandise

To promote the film the La Villa brothers partnered with an array of different companies releasing an arrange of products, including posters, postcards, an Austrian-based energy drink with Power Horse and a clothing collaboration with Tommy Hilfiger.[2][12]

Soundtrack
No.TitleMusicLength
1."The Exorcist"A-Trak 
2."No Sex on the Dance Floor"Alien Broadcast System 
3."Calling America"Alien Broadcast System 
4."Sonic Boom"Desert 
5."The Feeling is Good"Nicola Torriero feat. Chancelle 
6."Time to Stop"Roger Sanchez 
7."Me and My Baby"Taishisha Grant 
8."This Joy"Junior Vasquez feat. Vernessa 
9."Full Circle"Mimi Summers 
10."Sometimes"Eric Kupper feat. Mimi Summers 
11."We Can Do It"Claudio Cocoluto & Savino 

[13]

Critical reception

Hang the DJ opened to relatively positive reviews from fans. Many critics found the movie to not have a central theme and felt that the documentary tried to cover too much information without having any real outcome. Wesley Morris wrote for the San Francisco Chronicle stating that "the film doesn't present a particularly persuasive case for any of its turntablist subjects".[14]

Accolades
Award Date of Ceremony Category Recipients Result
1998 Gijón International Film Festival[15] November 27, 1998 Best Feature Marco La Villa and Mauro La Villa Nominated

See also

Hang the DJ (Black Mirror)

Notes
  1. Johnson, Brian D. (21 September 1998). "Masked men and disco kings". Maclean's. 111 (38): 77 – via EBSCO.
  2. Bouw, Brenda (27 October 1998). "Hang the DJ a raving success: Documentary: Film has been an international marketing success: [Final Edition]". National Post.
  3. "Hang the DJ".
  4. "TIFF's 25 Years of Midnight Madness: Best of the Fest #2 - History of Midnight Madness". soundonsight.org. 2013-09-18. Retrieved 2014-01-10.
  5. "Hang the Dj". 5 October 1998.
  6. "Hang the DJ | IDFA".
  7. "Hang the DJ | Stockholm Film Festival". Archived from the original on 2018-01-02. Retrieved 2012-11-26.
  8. http://miff.com.au/60_years_of_miff/film_archive?movieid=23221%5B%5D
  9. "Welcome to nginx!". Archived from the original on 2013-02-22. Retrieved 2012-11-28.
  10. "'Hang the DJ'". 28 July 2000.
  11. "Cineplex.com | Movie". www1.cineplex.com. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
  12. Dunlevy, T'cha (18 September 1993). "DJ film captive of hype: [Final Edition]". The Gazette.
  13. "Hang The DJ～The Motion Picture Sound Track Vol．1". www.bookoffonline.co.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2018-04-01.
  14. "'Hang the DJ'". SFGate. Retrieved 2018-04-03.
  15. "Gijón International Film Festival (1998)". IMDb. Retrieved 2018-03-31.
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