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The demise of disco was greatly accelerated by the cultural impact of the infamous Disco Demolition Night of 1979 in Chicago’s Comiskey Park. While rockers have used the word in a pejorative sense for years, DJs, artists, impresarios, and aficionados know that disco—both the genre and the subculture—not only has deep roots but has lived on under various aliases, inspiring the evolution of music and keeping people moving in various funky ways. Le freak, c’est toujours chic!

These are the ideas, plot points and storylines that Toronto filmmakers Omar Majeed (“Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam”) and Peter Mishara explore in their documentary feature “Disco’s Revenge,” which had its world premiere Thursday in Hot Docs’ Pop/Life strand.

The film, which screens again Friday, is set for release this year. Elevation Pictures will distribute it in Canada; Republic Pictures has acquired rights outside of Canada.

“Disco’s Revenge...

The Bee Gees’ sound evolved from pop to R&b in what became the disco music era, but it was their falsetto that was their unmistakable trademark… and it came about by accident many years into their career.

In the HBO documentary “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart,” surviving Bee Gee, Barry Gibb, takes viewers inside the studio, showing archival footage performing with his brothers Maurice and Robin and honing their signature sound.

In 1975, the band took the advice of veteran rocker Eric Clapton and went down to Miami to record their first album since the split at Criteria Studios in 1969. “I thought those guys were really an R&b band that hadn’t really worked that out yet, and I thought, man, this would be so good if they could pick up on what’s going on in America,” Clapton said.

It was in Miami that the Bee...

So it turns out that disco was actually a revolutionary tool that ended the oppression of women and black and gay people in the Us. Who knew?

I like disco as much as the next person, which is to say I like it at night, in moderate helpings, and only when accompanied by spirits. Disco has long been the musical genre to caricature rather than savour, best enjoyed in the background on hazy nights out rather than as a legitimate musical experience. So presented with the opportunity to sit through a two-hour disco documentary at the London film festival, I was a bit circumspect.

But from the first bar of that sour-sweet high-octane disco beat, I was hooked. This is because The Secret Disco Revolution is no ordinary history lesson about the 70s craze. Rather than simply charting the rise and fall of disco to a thumping soundtrack, the film...