Press
Disco’s Revenge is undoubtedly the seminal documentary on the disco movement and a call to all of us to remember the love that came from it.
— David Voigt, In the Seats
“Disco’s Revenge,” a new documentary that aims to recapture the glory days of nightlife under the mirrorball.”
— David Friend (Writer for CP), Toronto Star
A fascinating look at this music…infectious and uplifting
— Richard Crouse, film critic
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…Beautifully assembled, loaded with info, and bursting with energy, Disco’s Revenge is a joyful experience.
— VIFF 2024
Disco is back baby! So, I have always loved Disco. I grew up in that era. But there was a time it got a bad rap, mocked for being silly and commercial. Omar Majeed and Peter Mishara have arrived in 2024 with vindication in the documentary Disco's Revenge.
— Carol McNeil, CBC
Disco never truly died, but that doesn't mean its early iterations weren't threatened with extinction by the powers that be. As such, DISCO'S REVENGE, a new feature-length documentary…has charted the unkillable genre's rise, fall and rebirth.
— Allie Gregory, Exclaim!
Stop me if you’ve heard this before. A new genre of music emerges from New York’s working class and sparks a thriving subculture, which gets the attention of big business. Once the industries have their way with the genre, it’s been exported all over the world and back, and is now unrecognizable to the community that created it. Its values thinned, the genre becomes a target of spoiled hipsters seeking a thrill through denigration, or parody. I’m not talking about hip-hop, I’m not talking about bebop, I’m talking about the plot to Disco’s Revenge, a documentary showing now at the DOCNYC Festival.
— Adlan Jackson, Hell’s Gate
Disco’s Revenge” is anchored in the expansive storytelling of legendary American record producer, guitarist, composer and Chic founder Nile Rodgers, who has an executive producer credit on the film, and the personal recollections of Brooklyn DJ Nicky Siano, who was 17 when he started The Gallery, one of the key clubs of New York’s underground disco scene. Billy Porter appears throughout the film as a kind of philosophical spirit guide, with music luminaries Nona Hendryx, Grandmaster Flash, Fab Five Freddy, Earl Young, Jellybean Benitez, Kevin Saunderson, Sylvester and Martha Wash also in the mix.
— Jennie Punter, Variety
Majeed and Mishara use the film as an opportunity to paint a retrospective of that era. The engaging interviewees, featuring the likes of Nicky Siano, Nile Rodgers, Billy Porter, and others, deliver a sympathetic and honest look at that time. Those passionate tellings of their experiences of producing music or playing at those clubs provide the film a sense of honesty and care that flows throughout.
— Pedro Lima, Keith Loves Movies
There was the backlash, right? Disco sucks, disco’s dead, the disco burning record riots in Chicago at Cominsky Park in 79 and soon the era was over, the platform shoes, the bell bottoms, the mirrorball, the whole show went away, or did it? [Pete Mishara and Omar Majeed] say that Disco’s death was greatly exaggerated and they make their case in a great new documentary called Disco’s Revenge…They get deep into the groove of it all.
— Ben O’Hara-Byrne, Conversations with Ben O’Hara-Byrne