Skip to main content
Disco's Revenge film image; man dressed as rapper smiling

Disco's Revenge

Portraits

This event has passed

This loving, vivacious doc chronicles disco’s trajectory, from its origins in the early 70s through its harsh repudiation in the early 80s to its triumphant rebirth as house music. Directors Peter Mishara and Omar Majeed use interviews, needle drops, and a treasure trove of archival footage to convey not only the facts about the genre, but the feel of it as well.

In many ways, DJs were the real stars of disco, and at times it seems like the directors have paid tribute to that fact by making an annotated, illustrated mixtape session. The cutting matches the relentless drive of the music: the “four on the floor” bass kick, the fast tempo of the high hat, and the snap of the snare. The film is a history lesson as well, offering a cogent examination of the sexual, gender, and racial politics connected to the genre. Beautifully assembled, loaded with info, and bursting with energy, Disco’s Revenge is a joyful experience.

 

Oct 4 & 6: Q&A with directors Omar Majeed & Peter Mishara

 

Presented by

Media Partner

Directors
Featuring

Nile Rodgers, Billy Porter, Nona Hendryx, Grandmaster Flash, Fab Five Freddy, Nicky Siano

Credits
Country of Origin

Canada

Year

2024

Language

English

18+

At International Village

19+

At Fifth Avenue

100 min
Art, Music & Photography Documentary

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits & Director

Executive Producer

Nile Rodgers, Stanley Nelson Jr., Vivian Scott Chew

Producer

Noah Segal, Sam Sutherland, Christina Piovesan, Dave Harris

Screenwriter

Peter Mishara, Omar Majeed

Cinematography

Ashley Iris Gill

Editor

Omar Majeed, Peter Mishara, Navin Harrilal

Original Music

Jody Colero, Tiffany Su

VIFF Logo

Omar Majeed

Omar Majeed is an award-winning director, editor, and producer who studied cinema at York University. His first feature-length documentary TAQWACORE: The Birth of Punk Islam (2009) chronicled the rise of the nascent Muslim Punk scene in North America and Pakistan. In 2012, Omar produced and co-directed The Frog Princes (2012) profiling a Montreal-based theatre troupe of young adults with developmental disabilities which aired nationally on CBC.

Filmography: TAQWACORE: The Birth of Punk (2009)

VIFF Logo

Peter Mishara

Peter Mishara is a writer and director from New York City. He is best known for the TV mini series The Artists (2018) and the short film Sprnva (2014). Disco’s Revenge is his first feature film and co-directed with Omar Majeed.

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

All the Lovers in the Night
All the Lovers in the Night film image; man and woman touching the backs of their hands together

All the Lovers in the Night

Dir. Yukiko Sode
139 min

A lonely proofreader's isolated world begins to open through an unlikely friendship with a gentle physics teacher. Based on Mieko Kawakami's acclaimed novel, this luminous drama is a delicate meditation on loneliness, intimacy, and self-discovery.

Lindsay Family Stage at Granville Island International Village 9 Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only International Village 10
Clarissa
Clarissa film image; a woman peering out an open door

Clarissa

Dir. Arie Esiri, Chuko Esiri
134 min

Arie and Chuko Esiri’s Clarissa brings Mrs. Dalloway to present-day Lagos, with Sophie Okonedo playing the titular society hostess opposite David Oyelowo, Ayo Edebiri, and India Amarteifio in a Nigerian vision of class, privilege, and past lives.

Image: © Courtesy of Elevation Pictures

Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only The Park Theatre

Opening Gala: The Debut

Dir. Jesse Eisenberg
150 min

VIFF is honoured to open the festival with this special by-invitation screening of Jesse Eisenberg's The Debut. When meek Mona (Julianne Moore) lands a part in a musical, she fully inhabits her character, but grows increasingly untethered from reality.

Vancouver Playhouse

Árru

Dir. Elle Sofe Sara
95 min

Set against the mountains and fjords of northern Norway, Árru follows reindeer herder Maia as a proposed copper mine threatens her Sámi community, forcing her to fight to protect both her community and the land that sustains it.

SFU Woodwards Lindsay Family Stage at Granville Island Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only
The Beloved
The Beloved film image; two people walking through the desert

The Beloved

Dir. Rodrigo Sorogoyen
135 min

When Esteban Martínez, an acclaimed director with violent tendences, invites his estranged daughter to star in his latest project, the stage is set for a familial reconnection. But as tensions flare, questions about his intentions rise to the surface.

The Rio Theatre The Park Theatre Vancouver Playhouse
MODES 1
Golden Island film image; man standing next to a structure in some water

MODES 1

115 min

Archive and the land reveal other ways of seeing, ensuring that what is meant to endure cannot be erased.

The Cinematheque International Village 8