The Rise of the Synths

{{Infobox film

| name = The Rise of the Synths

| image = The Rise of the Synths film poster.png

| caption = Film poster

| director = Iván Castell

| writer = Iván Castell

| producer = {{Plainlist|

Ana Castañosa Bielsa
Javier Moreno
Rebeca Villar Rodríguez
Iván Castell

}}

| starring =

| narrator = John Carpenter

| music = OGRE

| cinematography = {{Plainlist|

Beltrán García
Adrián Barcelona

}}

| editing = Iván Castell

| production_companies = {{Plainlist|

Castell & Moreno Films
9AM Media Lab

}}

| distributor =

| released = {{Film date|df=yes|2019|11|1|In-Edit Film Festival|2019|12|13|Spain}}

| runtime = 80 minutes

| country = {{Plainlist|

Spain
United States

}}

| language = {{Plainlist|

English
French
Spanish

}}

| budget =

| gross =

}}

File:Rise of the Synths.jpg

The Rise of the Synths ({{langx|es|La rebelión de los sintes}}) is a 2019 documentary film written and directed by Iván Castell and narrated by filmmaker and composer John Carpenter. The film explores the origins and growth of the electronic music genre known as synthwave, charting its rise in popularity from the underground online music scene{{Cite web|url=http://www.in-edit.org/webapp/pelicula?peli_id=1823&ed_id=61|title=The Rise Of The Synths|website=www.in-edit.org|access-date=28 September 2019}} to its recent mainstream exposure, following use in retro-themed soundtracks, notably the 2011 film Drive{{Cite web|url=https://vehlinggo.com/2016/09/07/drive-movie-fifth-anniversary-feature/|title=Revisiting the Drive Soundtrack: The Artists Discuss the Impact of the Music|date=7 September 2016|website=Vehlinggo|access-date=28 September 2019}} and more recently, the television series Stranger Things.{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/synthwave-the-sound-of-an-80s-childhood-goes-mainstream-11548514800|title=Synthwave, the Sound of an '80s Childhood, Goes Mainstream|last=Shah|first=Neil|date=28 January 2019|work=Wall Street Journal|access-date=28 September 2019|issn=0099-9660}}

It is the first feature documentary exploring this underground subculture.

Production

The Rise of the Synths initially began as a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter in April 2016.{{Cite web|url=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/891811017/the-rise-of-the-synths|title=The Rise of the Synths (80s retro music documentary)|website=Kickstarter|access-date=28 September 2019}} That campaign failed and was relaunched in October 2016 on Indiegogo, this time reaching its goal.{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/1937912|title=The Rise of the Synths|website=Indiegogo|access-date=28 September 2019}} Over the next year, the film was part of the Documentary Campus Masterschool,{{Cite web|title=Documentary Campus e.V.|url=http://www.documentary-campus.com/p/the_rise_of_the_synths/|access-date=23 March 2021|website=www.documentary-campus.com}} also participating in the Sheffield Doc/Fest MeetMarket.{{Cite web|title=Sheffield Doc/Fest Festival Programme 2017|url=https://issuu.com/sheffdocfest/docs/docfest_festival_programme_2017_scr|access-date=23 March 2021|website=Issuu|language=en}}

The Rise of the Synths had its world premiere at the In-Edit Festival in Barcelona on 1 November 2019,{{Cite web|url=http://www.in-edit.org/webapp/pelicula?peli_id=1823&ed_id=61|title=The Rise Of The Synths|website=www.in-edit.org|access-date=11 November 2019}} with its international premiere on 15 November in London at the Doc'n Roll Festival.{{Cite web|url=https://www.docnrollfestival.com/films/the-rise-of-the-synths/|title=Doc'n Roll Film Festival - The Rise of The Synths|last=|first=|date=|website=www.docnrollfestival.com|access-date=30 September 2019}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.documentary-campus.com/newsItem/id__449/|title=UK premiere of Masterschool film The Rise of the Synths on 15 November in London : Documentary Campus e.V.|website=www.documentary-campus.com|access-date=11 November 2019}} It has also been screened at the International Film Festival Rotterdam{{Cite web|title=The Rise of the Synths {{!}} IFFR|url=https://iffr.com/en/2020/films/the-rise-of-the-synths|access-date=8 January 2021|website=iffr.com}} (Netherlands), Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (Argentina),{{Cite web|title=The Rise of the Synths, por Daniel Nuñez|url=https://www.asalallena.com.ar/festivales-all/22-bafici-the-rise-of-the-synths-daniel-nunez/|access-date=6 April 2021|website=www.asalallena.com.ar}} F.A.M.E. Festival Paris (France),{{Cite web|title=The Rise of the Synths|url=https://gaite-lyrique.net/evenement/the-rise-of-the-synths|access-date=8 January 2021|website=La Gaîté Lyrique|language=fr}} and Melbourne Documentary Film Festival (Australia).

Cast

With John Carpenter narrating, the film includes interviews with both established and upcoming synthwave artists, exploring their sources of inspiration, which range from early electronic pioneers such as Giorgio Moroder, Vangelis, and Tangerine Dream,{{Cite web|url=https://vehlinggo.com/2017/12/08/rise-synths-companion-album-today/|title=The Rise of the Synths Official Companion Album Is Out Today|date=8 December 2017|website=Vehlinggo|access-date=28 September 2019}} to a collective love of 1980s films and video games.[https://iffr.com/en/2020/films/the-rise-of-the-synths IFFR]

Artists featured in the film include:

Carpenter Brut
Gunship
Perturbator
Electric Youth
The Midnight
Nina
Power Glove
Dance with the Dead
Robert Parker
Waveshaper
OGRE
Miami Nights 1984
Valerie Collective (College, Maethelvin)
Lazerhawk
80's Stallone
John Bergin
MPM Soundtracks
Night Crawler
Scandroid
Mecha Maiko
Gost

For many of them, it was their first time on camera.{{Cite web|title=Director Iván Castell on – Rise of the Synths {{!}} FilmJuice|url=https://www.filmjuice.com/features/director-ivan-castell-on-rise-of-the-synths/|access-date=23 March 2021|website=www.filmjuice.com}} Some of these musicians, such as Power Glove, Carpenter Brut, Gost, Lazerhawk, Miami Nights 1984, 80s Stallone, and MPM Soundtracks, had never agreed to be recorded on camera and show their faces before. A few of them, such as Carpenter Brut, MPM Soundtracks, Gost, and Power Glove, insisted on keeping their faces or voices concealed or masked.

Synth Rider

The film arch-narrative is driven by a fictional character, the Synth Rider (also referred to as Synthrider, without spaces), created by Spanish director Iván Castell in 2015 and played by Spanish actor Rubén Martinez.{{cite web|title=The Rise of the Synths - Crowdfunding campaign|url=https://vimeo.com/133998688|website=Vimeo|date=20 July 2015 }} He is a lonely driver who time-travels in a DeLorean from the 1980s, with the mission of preserving the legacy of its masters: the electronic pioneers Giorgio Moroder, John Carpenter, Vangelis, and Tangerine Dream, among others.

The character first appeared on the crowdfunding campaign video that started in April 2016 on Kickstarter.{{cite web|title=The Rise of the Synths – Director Interview|url=https://newretrowave.com/2016/05/10/rise-of-synths-interview/|website=Newretrowave}} That campaign failed, but the character re-appeared in a second campaign video{{cite web|title=The Rise of the Synths - #LARESISTANCE Crowdfunding campaign|date=20 October 2016 |url=https://vimeo.com/188115011}} (as the leader of the #LaResistance movement), on Indiegogo.{{cite web|title=The Rise of the Synths: Last Days for Film Pre-order and Support Is March 30!|url=https://soundtracksscoresandmore.com/2017/03/28/the-rise-of-the-synths-last-days-film-funding/|website=soundtracksscoresandmore|date=28 March 2017 }}

He is the side-protagonist in the feature film, time-travelling—from one influential decade to the previous one—in a DeLorean, guided by the voice of the narrator. As journalist Ben Beaumont-Thomas described in the Guardian review of the film: "Carpenter is employed as a sensei-like narrator, recording his observations on to a cassette tape to be taken back in time by a Gosling-type pretty-boy street punk driving a DeLorean".{{Cite web|date=13 March 2020|title=The Rise of the Synths review – the world's most nostalgic music scene|url=http://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/mar/13/the-rise-of-the-synths-review-the-worlds-most-nostalgic-music-scene|access-date=30 March 2021|website=the Guardian|language=en}}

The director created the Synthrider "as an homage of the Mad Max's Night Rider character and Ryan Gosling in Drive"{{cite web|title=Melbourne Documentary Film Festival 2020: Interview with Iván Castell, Director of THE RISE OF THE SYNTHS|date=July 2020 |url=https://www.filminquiry.com/melbourne-ivan-castell-interview/}} and as a "metaphor of the time travel backward that most people experience when they discover this subculture. He is the artists, fans, music, films, all together in one person – with a kickass They Live neck tattoo".{{Cite web|title=Melbourne Documentary Film Festival 2020: Interview with Iván Castell, Director of THE RISE OF THE SYNTHS|url=https://www.filminquiry.com/melbourne-ivan-castell-interview/|website=Film Inquiry|date=July 2020 }} French journalist Nicolas Plomee points out another reference to the 1980s classic film Back to the Future: "The reference to Back to the Future (1985) from Robert Zemeckis is accentuated by those scenes, half-way into Drive (2010) from Nicolas Winding Refn, (...) and Mad Max (1979) from George Miller, where the character drives a DeLorean."{{Cite web|date=9 September 2020|title=Musical Ecran 2020 / "Rise of the synths" de Ivan Castell|url=https://section-26.fr/musical-ecran-2020-rise-of-the-synths-de-ivan-castell/|access-date=30 March 2021|website=Section26|language=fr-FR}}

Being a re-adaptation of a longtime archetype used in the retro scene—the lone night rider driving an 80s sports car—the character was well received by synthwave fans, and the term Synthrider was adopted organically by the community as a way of referring to themselves as synthwave fans, and it began to appear as a hashtag on Twitter{{cite web|title=Twitter hashtag|url=https://twitter.com/hashtag/synthrider}} and Instagram{{cite web|title=Instagram hashtag|url=https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/synthrider/}} profiles in 2016.

Director Iván Castell declared that the character wasn't supposed to be in the final film, he was originally created for a mood trailer as a way of catching the attention of film producers. The idea was then reused in the first crowdfunding campaign and worked so well, that he decided to integrate him in the film.{{cite web|title=The Rise of The Synths an interview with Ivan Castell|url=https://soundcloud.com/theparadisearcade/the-rise-of-the-synths|website=Paradise Arcade Podcast}}

Reception

Reviewing the film, Cinemania wrote, "It will delight music lovers and fans of synthesizers".{{Cite web|url=https://cinemania.20minutos.es/peliculas/the-rise-of-the-synths/|title=Crítica de 'The Rise of the Synths'|last=Bernal|first=Fernando|date=11 December 2019|website=Cinemanía|language=es-ES|access-date=2 January 2020}} Rob Dyson of ForeverSynth stated that director and writer Ivan Castell "hits all the right notes in terms of why and how the music and iconic imagery appeals – even to those who weren't born in the 70s or 80s."{{Cite web|url=https://www.foreversynth.com/rise-of-the-synths|title=Rise Of The Synths|website=Forever Synth|access-date=2 January 2020}} Inaki Ortiz Gasoc at El Contraplano wrote, "The aesthetic is careful and prevents this from being a classic boring documentary of talking heads" with "some fantastic film performances following the canons of the musical movement with its DeLorean". Jorge Loser at Espinof commented that "Carpenter's voice serves as a connection between blocks with creative tips and reflections on his career and his role in this whole new movement."{{Cite web|url=https://www.espinof.com/criticas/rebelion-sintes-interesante-documental-que-apunta-a-john-carpenter-como-genesis-movimiento-musical-decada|title='La rebelión de los sintes': interesante documental que apunta a John Carpenter como génesis del movimiento musical de la década|last=Loser|first=Jorge|date=14 December 2019|website=Espinof|language=es|access-date=2 January 2020}} The view from The Guardian{{'}}s Bill Beaumont-Thomas was more mixed, with him praising the film's "admirable production values", particularly the "impressively produced interstitial [fictional] segments", but also mentioning that the documentary was "stylish but shallow" and "trades deep analysis for platitudes and boring asides".{{Cite news|last=Beaumont-Thomas|first=Ben|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/mar/13/the-rise-of-the-synths-review-the-worlds-most-nostalgic-music-scene|title=The Rise of the Synths review – the world's most nostalgic music scene|date=13 March 2020|work=The Guardian|access-date=14 March 2020|issn=0261-3077}}

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack is composed by OGRE. In support of the film, Lakeshore Records also released an official companion album in 2017,{{Cite web|url=https://www.lakeshorerecordsshop.com/product/the-rise-of-the-synths-collectors-edition-trans-purple-vinyl-va-pre-order|title=The Rise Of The Synths (Collectors Edition) 'Trans Purple' Vinyl |website=Lakeshore Records|access-date=28 September 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://theriseofthesynths.bandcamp.com/album/the-rise-of-the-synths-official-companion-album|title=The Rise Of The Synths (Official Companion Album), by The Rise Of The Synths|website=The Rise Of The Synths|access-date=28 September 2019}} which received positive reviews and featured exclusive music from various synthwave artists.{{Cite web|url=https://vehlinggo.com/2017/06/08/rise-synths-ep-2-review/|title=Com Truise, GUNSHIP, Chrome Canyon: 'The Rise of the Synths' EP 2 Is Pure Gold|date=8 June 2017|website=Vehlinggo|access-date=28 September 2019}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.soundtrackgeek.com/v2/soundtrack-review-the-rise-of-the-synths/|title=Soundtrack Review: The Rise Of The Synths|last=|first=|date=|website=www.soundtrackgeek.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190221060124/http://www.soundtrackgeek.com/v2/soundtrack-review-the-rise-of-the-synths/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=21 February 2019|access-date=}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.soundtrackdreams.com/2017/11/soundtrack-review-the-rise-of-the-synths-ep-12017/|title=Soundtrack review: The rise of the synths EP 1(2017) – Soundtrack dreams|access-date=28 September 2019}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.electricityclub.co.uk/the-rise-of-the-synths/|title=THE RISE OF THE SYNTHS The Official Companion Album|date=16 December 2017|website=The Electricity Club|access-date=28 September 2019}}{{Track listing

| headline = Track listing

| title1 = Deckard Returns

| music1 = Chrome Canyon

| length1 = 3:32

| title2 = The Vale of Shadows

| music2 = Gunship

| length2 = 6:02

| title3 = Fatal Affair

| music3 = Power Glove

| length3 = 3:26

| title4 = Makita

| music4 = Geno Lenardo

| length4 = 2:37

| title5 = Idle Withdrawal

| music5 = Com Truise

| length5 = 4:20

| title6 = Lost in a Love

| music6 = Daniel Davies

| length6 = 3:44

| title7 = Silver Shadow

| music7 = Robert Parker

| length7 = 5:34

| title8 = A Mission to Remember

| music8 = Waveshaper

| length8 = 5:10

| title9 = Black Rain

| music9 = Code Elektro

| length9 = 4:44

| title10 = The Osbourne Effect

| music10 = German Engineering

| length10 = 2:24

| title11 = Triage

| music11 = Giorgio Moroder & Raney Shockne

| length11 = 2:24

| title12 = Night Stalker

| music12 = Carpenter Brut

| length12 = 3:41

| title13 = Crash & Burn

| music13 = John Bergin

| length13 = 2:47

| title14 = Dead of Night

| music14 = Dance with the Dead

| length14 = 4:06

| title15 = A Hero's Journey

| music15 = Lazerhawk

| length15 = 6:33

| title16 = Rebar (Prologue)

| music16 = OGRE

| length16 = 3:36

| title17 = Fleshman

| music17 = John Bergin

| length17 = 4:49

| title18 = Stargate

| music18 = Mega Drive

| length18 = 5:09

| title19 = Appearance of the Mysterious Traveller

| music19 = Voyag3r

| length19 = 7:32

| all_writing =

| total_length =

}}

The film also features the music of Power Glove, Maethelvin, 80s Stallone, NINA, Robert Parker, Waveshaper, Nightcrawler, Cougar Synth, Electric Youth, Miami Nights 1984, Dance with the Dead, MPM Soundtracks, Lazerhawk, Bluezz Vylez, College, GOST, Carpenter Brut, Mecha Maiko, Mega Drive, Scandroid, Sebastian Gampl, D/A/D, Gunship, and IamManolis.