Who doesn’t enjoy a good beat laid out by a talented DJ? The music industry is one of wonder, excitement, intrigue, and sometimes envy. There have been so many great movies and documentary films in 2023 made on the subject that are must-sees for music lovers all around that I wanted to make this collection of some of the best. Check out this collection of the best DJ movies and documentary films to watch in 2023.
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Collection of Best DJ Movies & Documentary Films 2023
Human Traffic
Plot: For Jip, Lulu, Koop, Nina and Moff, the dead-end jobs they endure during the week just kill the time until Friday night. That’s when they cut very loose and get on the crazy roller coaster ride that takes them right through to Monday morning. An adrenaline-pumped comedy, “Human Traffic” chronicles the ups and downs — both chemical and emotional — of five friends whose weekends are filled with endless clubbing, pubbing and partying where there are no rules, no limits and no saying “no.” Carl Cox, Pete Tong, and Howard Marks appear in this movie and gives extra credit.
Star Cast: Zac Efron, Emily Ratajkowski, Wes Bentley, Max Joseph, Armand Van Helden
Berlin Calling
Plot: DJ Ickarus is at the top of his game, composing music and touring with his manager and girlfriend, when he suffers a mental breakdown and fights for his life after being admitted to a psychiatric clinic. After a drug overdose, he is admitted to a psychiatric hospital, but that doesn’t stop him to do what he loves. Even if the clinic and record label suggests some rest, he finds inspiration to complete his album.
Star Cast: Paul Kalkbrenner, Rita Lengyel, Araba Walton, Rolf Peter Kahl
We Are Your Friends
Plot: Young Cole Carter dreams of hitting the big time as a Hollywood disc jockey, spending his days and nights hanging with buddies and working on the one track that will set the world on fire. Opportunity comes knocking when he meets James Reed, a charismatic DJ who takes the 23-year-old under his wing. Soon, his seemingly clear path to success gets complicated when he starts falling for his mentor’s girlfriend, jeopardizing his new friendship and the future he seems destined to fulfill.
Star Cast: Zac Efron, Emily Ratajkowski, Wes Bentley, Max Joseph
It’s All Gone Pete Tong
Plot: Is a deaf DJ movie. The famous radio producer and DJ Pete Tong presents the troubled life of a superstar DJ. Frankie Wilde is a superstar DJ who has been abusing his body (and his hearing) in clubs in Ibiza for years. He is blissfully unaware, as he enjoys the hedonistic lifestyle with his trophy wife, that he was born with a hearing disorder, and is swiftly going deaf. His career goes downhill fast, and his lifestyle with it, but he locks himself away for a year, and comes out with new attitude. Many famous artists such as Tiesto, Paul Van Dyk, and Carl Cox appear in the film talking about the urban legend.
Star Cast: Peter Tong, Paul Kaye, Kate Magowan, Beatriz Batarda
Stark Raving Mad
Plot: A man joins a crime syndicate in the hope of gaining revenge on the boss who murdered his brother. Planning a complicated robbery, the group of young crooks aim to steal a valuable statue and gain revenge on the crime lord while throwing a huge rave as a diversion to the heist they are pulling on the bank next door.
Star Cast: Seann W. Scott, Timm Sharp, Lou Diamond Phillips, John B. Crye, John Digweed
Groove
Plot: An inside look into one night in the San Francisco underground rave scene. Except for John Digweed in the movie also appears real-life DJs, DJ Forest Green, and WishFM. On Friday, a single e-mail blips through the Internet. The word spreads quickly through the city: the party is on. Saturday evening, two hundred people secretly converge at an abandoned San Francisco warehouse. As the sun sets the records start spinning, setting into motion a night that no one will forget. David Turner, his brother Colin and Colin’s girlfriend, Harmony go to Groove and have a night that changes the brothers forever.
Star Cast: Hamish Linklater, Dmitri Ponce, Danielle Renfrew
What We Started
Plot: Featuring a powerful cast of electronic dance music superstars, including Carl Cox and Martin Garrix, exploring the past, present and future and secrets of electronic music. The movie also features interviews from David Guetta, Erick Morillo, Moby, Tiësto, Richie Hawtin, and Paul Oakenfold.
Star Cast: Martin Garrix, Carl Cox, Ed Sheeran, Moby
24-Hour Party People
Plot: Manchester, 1976. Tony Wilson is an ambitious but frustrated local TV news reporter looking for a way to make his mark. After witnessing a life-changing concert by a band known as the Sex Pistols, he persuades his station to televise one of their performances, and soon Manchester’s punk groups are clamoring for him to manage them. Riding the wave of a musical revolution, Wilson and his friends create the legendary Factory Records label and The Hacienda club.
Star Cast: Steve Coogan, Tony Wilson, Paddy ConsidineLennie James
Nothing But The Beat
Plot: Nothing But the Beat is the story of David Guetta and house music, as told by himself, his fans and the legions of legendary artists that he’s worked with. The documentary focuses on Guetta and his unstoppable fire to create incredible dance music, fueled by an overwhelming passion and ambition to be the best.
Star Cast: David Guetta, Afrojack, Akon, Usher, Flo Rida
Steve Aoki: I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead
Plot: Disc jockey Steve Aoki reveals the driving force behind his passion as he prepares for the biggest show of his career.
Star Cast: Steve Aoki, Devon Aoki, DJ AM, Afrojack, will.iam,
Scratch
Plot: Scratch is a documentary that shows just how far you can push the art and history of DJing to the extremes, exploring the mastery of scratching in depth. A feature length documentary film about the hip-hop DJ and today’s “turntablist” movement. From the South Bronx in the `70s to San Francisco now, the world’s best scratchers, diggers, party-rockers and producers on beats, breaks, battles, and the infinite possibilities of vinyl.
Cast: Famous DJ Akil, Grandmaster Flash, DJ Shadow, DJ Premier