Bell-bottoms are so back, baby! Ok, maybe not quite, but one Toronto-based filmmaking duo have made a serious bid for a disco renaissance with their new documentary, Disco’s Revenge.
It’s true that disco, the pulsating, soulful sound of the 1970s and early 80s never really died, and is in fact alive and well at institutions around the world today. Dundas West’s Bambi’s or the parties thrown by Promise come to mind as entities keeping disco alive in Toronto today, whether in sound or spirit.
What’s equally true, though, is, following disco’s massive surge in popularity through the late-70s and into its subsequent inevitable hyper-commercialization and sanitization, over time it got scrubbed of any last bit of history, grit and soul until it was all one shiny, polyester package that, for many, didn’t mean much of anything at all.
For the people who built the genre — perhaps movement is a more poignant word — from the ground up, disco never lost its meaning, nor its history.
That’s exactly the story that directors Toronto-born Omar Majeed and Peter Mishara spin in Disco’s Revenge, their first feature-length collaboration which debuted on Crave and VOD Monday, Feb. 3 after premiering at the 2024 Hot Docs International Documentary Festival.
An N.Y.C. native-turned-Toronto resident of over 15 years, the story of disco’s birth is one with a deeply familiar backdrop for co-director Peter Mishara.
“There’s something about my origin story [that’s] closely tied to New York City of the 70s, so this was a dream to explore that world and that time period,” he tells blogTO.
For Omar Majeed, who attended film school in Toronto before working his way up as an editor, producer and director, the intersection of music, culture, politics and societal change have always been a point of interest, which he also explored in his 2009 film Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam.
“I think they both explore music and culture, but through a bit of a political lens,” Omar tells blogTO. “I’m very interested in that intersection between the way music can be a real tool for people who are looking for, you know, ways to express themselves and when dominant culture maybe doesn’t necessarily give them as many outlets.”
Omar and Peter pose with disco legend, Nile Rodgers, who they credit with much of the film’s inspiration.
In Disco’s Revenge, Omar and Pete, with some help from major players of the disco era including Nile Rodgers, Nicky Siano, Jellybean Benitez, Kathy Sledge and Grandmaster Flash to name only a few, tell precisely that kind of story.
Born in underground, then-illegal gay clubs around New York City, the uniquely percussive-yet-soulful sound of disco quickly worked its way from the dance floor right up into the hearts of club-goers from all walks of life.
“We learned a lot in the making of the film, but we already had a sense that disco was a very maligned and misunderstood genre of music, and that there was a deeper story there, and one that was, you know, I knew even just vaguely, that there was connections between that and what had happened at Stonewall,” Omar tells blogTO, referencing the Stonewall riots which are largely recognized as the catalyst for the gay rights movement across the United States.
“New York in the 70s was such a melting pot of all kinds of different movements, so we just thought there was really interesting possibility there, and decided to work together on this.”
For Omar and Peter, the story of disco, while ubiquitous with a long-bygone era, is one that still holds relevance today, beyond the fact that the genre remains one of the most popular of the past century.
“I do think that idea of joy is so important for us to capture in our lives and define that,” Peter says. “And I think also disco was huge from a community standpoint, building a community and a connection between people through joy.”
“Yeah, I think it’s amazing the idea that, like, when people are on a dance floor together, a dance floor is a sacred space, and that it brings people together, but you don’t have to talk necessarily,” Omar agrees, pointing to the sense of community that was central to the early disco movement.
“We live in very polarized times, and it’s very difficult people to talk to one another across divides, but on a dance floor, it doesn’t matter your class, your race, your gender, or whatever you bring to the dance floor, you’re all together, kind of in moving as one and you’re experiencing joy together that’s meaningful.”
Founder of The Gallery nightclub and former Studio 54 resident DJ, Nicky Siano, shows Omar the old haunts.
Those polarizing times Omar mentioned, which include issues of identity coming under attack both south of the border and, frighteningly, at home, are somewhat mirrored in the story of disco — nevermind the fact that its major players were fighting back against discrimination more than 50 years ago.
“I always loved Sylvester,” says Omar, referencing flamboyant, androgynous singer behind the seminal disco hit You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real), “but I think we came through a new found appreciation of Sylvester in the making the film, and it became very important for us to really highlight him and his work.”
“We were constantly amazed in looking at the footage, the interviews, the performances that a figure like that gains such popularity at that time,” he explains. “We sort of are in an age, you know, where identity is much more fluid and sexuality is much more expressive. And yet here was Sylvester, who was very gender fluid and undefinable […] and everyone loved Sylvester.”
For both Peter and Omar, getting to the root of disco’s ethos — beyond just its tangible cultural impact or the sounds it spawned — was of the utmost importance.
That ethos, they share both in the documentary and with blogTO, is one of community, love and unity. Gee, sounds like we could benefit from a little more disco in 2025.
“I don’t think [Disco has] gone anywhere,” Peter tells blogTO, “sometimes it goes underground, sometimes overground, but it’s still there’s something very, very powerful about it that goes beyond just the specifics of the music genre.”
“That’s what this film for us was about, too, is just sort of figuring out what that was.”
Upon watching the film, you’ll quickly gather that uncovering the intangibles — that “powerful” thing Peter refers to — of disco’s magic is a core thesis of the documentary.
Peter interviews pioneering DJ Grandmaster Flash for the documentary.
While there’s no shortage of disco retrospectives and history documentaries out there, Disco’s Revenge peels back the layers of the movement — not just the music — in a way that few others have, shining a light into even the aspects of disco’s history that all too frequently go unrecognized in the pop-culture discourse.
Disco was born in New York City, but its legacy lives on around the world, and both Peter and Omar tell blogTO that there’s plenty in the documentary that’ll deeply resonate with Toronto audiences.
“Torontonians know their clubs, and they know their dance floors and they know their dance music, that’s that’s evident from the history of Toronto, and even now,” Omar says.
“This is a city that gets it, and especially in cold weather like this, we need to find ways to get out and dance.”
For Peter, the distinctly urban quality of disco — both as a musical genre and as a larger cultural movement — is something that Toronto residents will be able to see their own city reflected in.
“I’m born and raised a city guy, right?” Peter says, “and the reason I love cities is because of its diversity and people that you encounter and bounce off of, and I think this is very much a celebration of that idea at a time where I think it’s very crucial.”
“I think Toronto is an incredible example of that.”
Disco’s Revenge is now streaming on Crave and Video on demand.
