DJ MEHDI: MADE IN FRANCE

DJ MEHDI: MADE IN FRANCE [Binge Night]
Thibaut de Longeville | France 2024 | 242' | OmenglUT

DJ Mehdi, music jester, autodidact and turntable prodigy, was the first French artist who, at the end of the 1990s, managed to bridge the gap between two milieus that had nothing to do with each other at the time: the hip-hop of the banlieues and the bourgeois, inner-city house, techno and electro fan community. 13 years after Mehdi's accidental death, the six episodes of the documentary series by Thibaut de Longeville, who had a long-standing friendship with the DJ, shed light on the pioneering role that the free spirit, who was mostly overlooked by the general public, played in the breakthrough of both scenes in France and beyond.

Private archive material as well as exclusive interviews with some of the biggest names in this specific French pop culture(Kerry James, Rim'K, Mokobé, MC Solaar, Daft Punk, Cassius, Justice, Pedro Winter from Ed Banger and many more) allow us to immerse ourselves in the history of both scenes.) allow us to immerse ourselves in the little-known and all the more exciting world of DJ Mehdi and reveal the secret of the great unifier who was able to reconcile suburban street rap and poppy hip hop, the sparkling house of the French touch and confrontational electro, thereby playing a decisive role in the careers of French acts, some of whom are world-famous today, from Idéal J and the collective Mafia K'1 Fry (pronounced: Can-Frie), MC Solaar, Cassius , Daft Punk, Justice and Pedro Winter with his label Ed Banger.

With this binge night, UNERHÖRT! is realizing a long-cherished dream. We regularly bring TV and net content to the big screen and have also screened a mini-series in the past. The episodes were still so short that they all fitted into a normal event slot. This time, we're finally taking the format description "feature-length film" at its word and calling for several hours of gawking (and marveling) at the six-part documentary series! And since we're also bringing the director into the B-Movie for a virtual Q&A at the halfway point, we'll be able to spend (at least) four and a half full hours with the captivating story of the Afro-Tunisian immigrant child who became a genre-busting international star behind the scenes in France.

All films & dates: www.unerhoert-filmfest.de