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Logline

In New York City, queer and trans DJs and producers are creating a once-in-a-generation nightlife renaissance. They are challenging institutions, uplifting each other, and triumphing — starting at the rave.

Synopsis

Our documentary opens through Pauli Cakes, a DJ and activist who rose in the scene throwing underground raves called “renegades.” We watch as they throw a renegade in a forest. Often anti-colonial in nature, this renegade is raising money for incarcerated people.

Our story pivots to AntPuke, Pauli’s collaborator. AntPuke is at the top of the rave scene as the founder of Club Carry, a collective of trans BIPOC DJs. She shares her story as a brown trans woman organizing around harm reduction and mutual aid. She meets with Byrell The Great, the top ballroom DJ and house father to a DJ family.

The film moves from Ava to Byrell to the next until all seven of our cast members are introduced. Cast members recount the joyousness of our nightlife spaces, while acknowledging the often difficult circumstances that allow such celebration to be possible, including experiences around mental health, homelessness, and sex work. We learn through them of the renaissance underway, contextualized through apt comparisons to the Harlem Renaissance or the 90s House Revival.
Through each story, we see how our artists are interconnected. Together, they plan a climatic party for the film. Dancing bodies, iconic outfits, and music at 140 BPM will immerse our audience in the party’s dazzling scenes.

When our cast members reflect on the night, they discuss the impact of nightlife. Nightlife sets culture, and decisions and expressions made during the night extend far beyond the club: The artists’ commitment to holding space for each other is dismantling systems that have long held Black and brown queer people back. They are challenging institutions, uplifting each other, and triumphing.

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Meet the Filmmakers

Teddy Kentor – Director
Teddy Kentor is an emerging documentary filmmaker and nightlife promoter. He recently worked on a scripted Netflix series as Director and Executive Producer’s Assistant to Paris Barclay and Assistant to Mia Farrow. Before Netflix, he worked at The Washington Post for over five years where he led The Post’s strategy for election coverage.

Teddy believes nowhere in the world is doing more to dismantle the systems that stunted his own formation than what he sees happening in nightlife. He intends for his films to contribute to the dismantling work happening in the club scene by helping to share its stories.

Starr Sanford – Additional Direction/Camera
Starr Sanford is a non-binary experimental video artist, organizer, and DJ based in Brooklyn, NY. Combining sound, video synthesis, and installation as a means of investigation, Starr uses video to explore Black queer histories and futures. They began documenting during the height of the pandemic, grabbing footage during the George Floyd protests, city hall sit-ins, forest raves, and warehouse parties.

Starr believes we’re living in a Black queer renaissance here in Brooklyn with nightlife at the forefront of our movements. The power of sound and dance as social and cultural transformation is happening right under our noses – and through documentation and archival we’re allowed to tell our own stories.

Byrell Forest – Producer
Byrell Forest, known as the Legendary Byrell The Great, is at the heart of New York’s ballroom and rave scenes. 
 
He was born and raised in New York on 143rd and Lenox Ave — on the same block as Harlem’s historic balls. He has since made a name for himself as ballroom’s top DJ with works like his Vogue Workout series, his club banger Bubble Drip, and his OTA residency, an international ballroom brand founded in NYC.
 
With this platform, Byrell The Great sees great responsibility. He is an advocate who fights for how DJs should be treated and paid. He is also a house father, bringing the legacy of Crystal LaBeija to his DJ family. 

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Contact

For inquiries, please contact fiscalsponsorship@filmindependent.org.