Glow sticks. Pacifiers. Baggy pants. Body glitter. If these all sound like great ingredients for a Friday night, then Rise: The Story Of Rave Outlaw Disco Donnie is definatley the film for you.....

This documentary by Julie Drazen tells the story of one Disco Donnie (Jamews D. Estopinal Jr.) who was one of the most famous promoters of New Orleans local rave scene. Throughout his school years, young Donnie would always organize parties at local bars, despite his desire to be an accountant. Upon being invited to a local dance party after work one night.... the rest, shall we say, is history. Devoting all of his time and energy to the promotion of dance culture, Donnie lit up the local scene quickly. Through the 1990's he became the ringleader of legendary rave parties, which took place wherever and whenever possible. From the contests to Mardi Gras celebrations, Donnie really achieved his goal of being 'the life and soul of the party'.
However the local authorities were not impressed with Disco Donnie's efforts needless to say, and on August 26th 2000 the first major conflict occurred. For hours and hours the DEA searched his premisses, confiscating everything, except what they all hoped would be in there - illegal drugs. Soon, Donnie learned that he was being indicted under drug related grand jury chargese, and it seemed to be the beginning of the ned. But was Disco Donnie the victim of a bullying administration, or was he rightfully prosecuted as a criminal?
This, of course, is the main focus of Rise: The Story of Rave Outlaw Disco Donnie, and director Julie Drazen does a decent job of telling it like it is. Rise is an objective look at the man behind the parties, and the staggeringly popular genre of music that influenced him so much. Featuring music by Josh Wink, Leftfield, Qbert, Nico and many more artists, this documentary will be of much interest to long-time fans of rave music, or those who are relatively new to the genre.