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Charlotte Krol
17 July 2023, 12:41

History of techno in Detroit and Berlin explored in new documentary: Watch

The 19-minute film looks at techno's origins in Detroit and the early '90s boom of the genre in Berlin

Black and white photo of a queue of people outside Tresor, Berlin

A new short film documenting the origins of techno in Detroit and its boom in Berlin has been released.

How Techno Was Born: From Detroit To Berlin was originally broadcast on German state TV channel Deutsche Welle and was uploaded to YouTube last week.

Shot by journalist Ute Pfeiffer, the documentary features interviews with Alan Oldham (DJ T-1000), Ellen Allien, Juan Atkins, and the founder of Berlin's Tresor club, Dimitri Hegemann.

It focuses on the period directly after the fall of the Berlin Wall in late 1989, and the Detroit originators' influence on the German capital's burgeoning scene. The film also features archive footage of Berlin in the late '80s and early '90s, including the very earliest days of Tresor and other clubs, and vintage interviews with Blake Baxter and Paul van Dyk also feature. 

Watch the 19-minute film below.

Revisit DJ Mag's feature: Tresor at 30: the evolution of a Berlin techno institution.

Read about the legacy of two classic Detroit records, Urban Tribe's 'The Collapse Of Modern Culture' and Drexciya's 'The Quest'.