Richie Hawtin produces short film ‘KIDS LIKE US’, based on his iconic Detroit performances

Set in Detroit’s underground in the early 1990s, a turning-point period in the history of electronic music; ‘KIDS LIKE US‘ is a short film that explores identity, dislocation, and connection through the lens of a booming techno culture.

Directed and written by emerging and respected Michigan-based filmmaker Luke Jaden and drawing on the personal history of pioneering electronic music artist Richie Hawtin, the short film captures how dance culture creates lasting relationships and offers space for self-discovery.

The project takes both visual landscape and emotional cues from a defining moment in techno history: the now-legendary Spastik party that Richie Hawtin staged inside Detroit’s derelict Packard Plant. These illegal Hawtin parties became iconic; promoted through street signs, anonymous flyers, and last-minute telephone hotlines. Notably, the Spastik party itself marked the debut of Hawtin’s ‘Plastikman‘ live performance on August 13, 1994, a night whose impact still resonates.

Daniel Miller of Mute (Hawtin’s label) flew in to witness it. The Blessed Madonna was in the crowd, a young raver whose path into music was shaped by that experience. These events weren’t simply underground parties; they helped ignite a movement that re-centered global electronic culture around Detroit and the Midwest. The early ’90s Detroit techno scene was more than music, it was a vital, self-built community. In a city shaped by economic collapse and social fragmentation, underground raves opened space for connection and expression.

Rather than reconstruct the scene as mythology, ‘KIDS LIKE US‘ is finds its brilliance grounded in truth. Filmed inside a real modern-day Detroit techno event, Jaden’s script is shaped by lived experience, personal conversations, and accurate archival references. At its core is a question: how do these temporary, late-night spaces not only foster safe community spaces but forge lasting human connection?

“I have always been deeply inspired by the early 90s underground techno culture in Detroit – the birthplace of techno,” says Jaden. “It’s a scene where you feel totally free to be yourself and it’s one of the most welcoming, inviting communities to be around: family. The darkness. The single strobe light. The pounding music shaking the walls. The dance floor represents this womb for acceptance and freedom. Not just by society, but with yourself. If anything, it’s an anthem for resilience. Going to a techno show is a sacred place for self-exploration.”

With an iconic career now prevalent through decades, for Richie Hawtin, the collaboration offered an opportunity to revisit a formative period that remains deeply personal, and to contribute to a portrayal rooted in care and accuracy rather than spectacle.

“A film about the past requires careful considerations specially when it concerns pivotal moments of your career and events that touched countless individuals lives. When I first met Luke, I could tell that he was fascinated by the stories he had heard about the early days of the Detroit rave scene and I could some how sense that he wanted to uncover the true magic of those times. Luke focused on deep archaeological style research to expose the lore’s smallest details and the emotions of those times that still lingered in the participates, and used these to continue honing his story to reflect an honest and engaging narrative of what had transpired.”

Watch ‘KIDS LIKE US’ here.