DJ XL5's Stereosonic Beach Party

Fantasia invites you join us in celebrating 15 years of creative excellence from one of our star programmers, the one responsible each year for organizing festival-favourite thematic events and cinematic revelries so off the chain that you can’t even pronounce their names – DJ XL5’s Zappin’ Parties. We most notably know him for tributes to Indian, Mexican and Italian cinema, 1980s heavy metal culture, Scopitones and other pre-MTV music promotional devices, and superhero pictures. This year’s programming features several musical numbers that found their way into his work since the beginning, picking elements from his thematic parties as much as from the special projections he reserves for his Fantasia audiences, screened while people are taking their seats. Of course, fresh discoveries will be there to spruce up the retrospective. You’ll discover unusual dance moves and powerful artists, ranging from go-go to new wave, passing through punk and early hip hop, with a necessary pit stop in the realm of hard rock. Over-the-top makeup, gravity-defying hairdos and eccentric costumes are also on the menu.

For this Beach Party, DJ XL5 will treat festival-goers to parts of his 1940s-2000s musical video collection, with a strong focus on the ’80s and ’90s. Much like a DJ’s mixtape, this party is one continuous 110-minute adventure, featuring over 40 musical pieces that feed into each other in a relentless fury, like a runaway train riding blind into the night. Presenting this program on the waterfront at Village au Pied-du-Courant, to guarantee a truly old-school beach party vibe, we encourage attendees to wear their Hawaiian shirts, straw hats and most outrageous summer clothing, and to come and dance in the sand, where beer, popcorn and BBQ sandwiches will be added to the fun. – Translation: Guillaume Desbiens