Fred again.., Aphex Twin and Four Tet feature on soundtrack of new Ukraine rave documentary
Black Sunflowers, which is due to premiere at TIFF today, follows "twenty something" Ukrainians against a backdrop of war and underground club nights
Aphex Twin, Brian Eno, Four Tet and Fred again.. are among the artists set to feature on the soundtrack of a forthcoming "coming-of-age" documentary film, which explores the Ukrainian rave scene following the 2022 Russian invasion.
Black Sunflowers, which will make its debut at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on September 11, follows the lives of "twenty something" Ukrainians against the backdrop of martial law, underground club nights, and the "brutal frontlines" of the ongoing war.
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According to The Hollywood Reporter, Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn has signed on to executive produce the film, which is created by filmmaker James Marcus Haney, known for his work on the 2014 Coachella documentary No Cameras Allowed.
The soundtrack also features music from IDLES, Morphine, Sega Bodega, Nastya Vogan, Два Два Дев’ять, Ann Annie, and Marwan, with an original score by Brad Oberhofer, AKA Ukrainian electronic musician Koloah.
"The film is a tapestry of protagonists and so too, is the score and its creators," Haney tells Mixmag. "We wanted the music to represent what the protagonists themselves listen to. In that way, the score and soundtrack are created by a mix of Ukrainian and Western Europe / American artists - I really connected with some of the protagonists through music."
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"I not only learned about amazing Ukrainian music - they taught me about some epic music from the US that I had never heard of before," he adds. "I wanted to incorporate just as much of the Western culture music in the fabric of the film as the Ukrainian music, to better represent just how globally-influenced this young generation of Ukrainians are."
One of the young people followed in the film is an "amputee soldier finding freedom on a high-energy rave dancefloor, despite a blade prosthesis," per THR's exclusive first-look at the project.
Following its premiere at TIFF, Black Sunflowers will have an afterparty in Toronto with an all-night-long set from Ben UFO at Mooi Space. You can find more details here.
Megan Townsend is Mixmag's Deputy Editor, get in touch with her here.
