RAHEEM - THE SECOND SUMMER OF LOVE
GLOWKiD (glowkidmusic.blogspot.com)
July 18th 2023
Believe it or not, it’s been almost three decades since the Second Summer of Love. By that time, we achieved escaping from the outrageous pandemic era, and it seems that we stand at the threshold of a new Summer of Love, as there is a remarkable new wave of artists and labels representing the evolution and continuation of that old skool sound.
Suffice to say that this original spirit and cultural movement also very often goes on screening. The last couple of years we had the chance to watch some very cool rave inspired films covering stories from back in the day. ‘Weekender’ (2011) and ‘Beats’ (2019) have been the ones that stand out at most.
Moreover, most recently we found out a very young and aspiring director from the UK, named Tyler Richards, who was very young to live directly in that time, although he managed to create a film about the inimitable summer experience that took over Britain.
IT WAS HARDCORE AND IT WAS FOR EVERYONE
The film is titled ‘Raheem’, a short-length movie (26 minutes long) and it forms Richards’ graduation project for the MET Film School. It was successfully funded through Indiegogo campaign, and it was set in train in 2019, followed by a bit of delay due to Covid. Eventually, the film saw the light four months ago and we were more than happy to watch it. We can assure you that none from the oldskool crew should sit this one out. It’s a lump-in-throat story, drawing on different angles from those innocent days
Some special mention should also be given to the soundtrack, made under the wings of the established UK acts, Denham Audio and Borai, known for their Club Glow action and their massive sets all around the globe. The contemporary rave stabs and synths sounds composed throughout seem like the most appropriate score for a film like this one. Fancy to take a listen to more of their stuff and get to know them better? We would recommend you to check out one of their latest shows; recorded as broadcasted on Rinse FM here.
However, what has really inspired Richards to set up this film was ‘People’s stories’ that reminisce those days, as he mentioned in an interview held last year at the Iconic Underground Magazine. And for anyone wondering, Richards has confirmed that he has already written a script for a full-length version: “I’ve always been fascinated with the past and the journeys people go through to get them where they are today, I remember watching some rave archive footage and there were people of such a divide of background dancing and raving together that arguably might not have happened before this movement. So I thought what if we take a few of these widely different characters that on paper shouldn’t be friends and watch them grow over their formative years in the rave community. So it all just fell into place really” - (Source).
In a nutshell, we would need to see films such as ‘Raheem’ being recognised and rewarded as much as it could, in times when unity is needed more than ever to fight the great amount of toxicity that covers our planet. Raves do our nights and films like ‘Raheem’ do express that authentic vibe in screening.
The indispensable story of three different kids and young ravers, Raheem (Benjamin Lafayette), Koop (Liam Whiting) and Allie (Lydia Cherry), is cultivated on a common direction. In Richards’ mind these three characters are united by music and they represent the real-life experiences.
The whole story captures their experiments in sex and drugs by the raving rhythms of free love, with no boundaries. It is a good example of what was all about in 1989 - in the words of Raheem: “It was hardcore and it was for everyone”, describing London as ravers’ ‘playground’, just before the main action is about to kick off.
The plot: “The story takes place in Britain in the summer of 1989, when Rave culture has just begun. Black British Raheem is sexually confused as of late. He’s been selling pills at illegal raves with his pal Koop, taking too much MDMA, and secretly getting with guys in the process. To make matters worse, Koop is a reformed skinhead and will probably kick Raheem’s head in if he finds out. The aforementioned Koop has been seeing 16, fresh out of school, Allie, for the last few months on a sexual basis. Allie wants nothing more than for Koop to tell her that he loves her. Unfortunately, that’s too much commitment for our Koop. Welcome to the party.”
‘Raheem’ is available to watch for free via this link below:
https://www.shortverse.com/films/raheem-the-second-summer-of-love
Follow Tyler Richards:
https://vimeo.com/tylerrichards
https://www.instagram.com/tyler_richards21/
Trailer: