Film & Discussion | PHI Centre
Tuesday June 7, 2022 at 07:00 PM at PHI Centre
Invited guests: Caroline Hayeur, Fred Everything, Christian Pronovost, moderated by Dennis Kastrup
Address:
315 Saint-Paul Street W.
Montreal, Quebec, H2Y 2M3
Following the screening of the documentary film
Denk ich an Deutschland in der Nacht by Romuald Karmakar about the development of electronic music in Germany, the moderator of the event, Dennis Kastrup, will bridge the gap between Berlin and Montreal and start a discussion about the beginnings of techno culture in Montreal.
if i think of germany at night (Denk ich an Deutschland in der nacht)
Director: Romuald Karmakar
Germany 2017, Documentary | 105 min.
With: Ricardo Villalobos, Sonja Moonear, Ata, Move D und Roman Flügel
Five DJ/producers in the studio, at the club, on stage. Also: personal reflections on their careers and on the wider world of electronic music. In between: empty clubs in daylight, crowded dance floors at night, glimpses behind the scenes and into everyday life. These are the elements that make up
If I Think of Germany at Night (2017).
Romuald Karmakar's documentary offers a portrait of Ricardo Villalobos, Sonja Moonear, Ata, Move D and Roman Flügel, but it's more than that: the film takes a look at music in general and club music in particular, often with a very personal departure point. For the Heidelberg native Move D, for example, a childhood memory of the sound of air rushing under a door sparked an excursion into an entire cosmology of music. The Geneva-based DJ Sonja Moonear uses her own background as a clubgoer to explain how the unifying force of electronic dance music transcends and connects nationalities and generations. Ata from Frankfurt recalls how the music of Kraftwerk and the records lent to him by a Black G.I. neighbor shaped his musical persona – and how Germany and the United States have influenced each other in the development of house and techno.
Active since the 1990s, the film’s figures speak from their experiences, their subculture and its development. The historiographical, sociological and philosophical aspects are brought down to earth by the artist in action – whether alone in the studio, facing crowds from the DJ booth or improvising with other musicians on the stage. When I Think of Germany at Night is Romuald Karmarkar’s fourth documentary on techno and its related musical styles. Following
196 BPM (2002),
Between the Devil and the Wide Blue Sea (2005) and
Villalobos (2009), the film offers the director's most comprehensive account of a constantly evolving subculture.
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