secret location (TBA)

Directed by Vanessa Lam 

Embark on an exclusive journey into the 'Secret Location,' where a Sydney collective hosts their first DIY underground party. Uncover the process, feel the stakes, and discover their compelling motivations.

Secret Location (TBA) intimately peels the layers of the Sydney state, reaching to the underground, we discover the symbolic underpinnings of underground parties in becoming a political statement against the overpoliced state. 

When the government of then-Premier Barry O’Farrell introduced lockout laws to NSW, nightlife in the city of Sydney suffered a blow from which it is yet to recover. What followed was a grassroots resurgence of DIY party culture – passion projects in the form of collectives materialised across and around the city; bush doofs and warehouse raves returned in numbers. Ten years later, all of the state’s original lockout laws have been repealed, yet the underground party scene is still as vibrant as ever, with many collectives needing to switch to the commercial scene in order to maintain their success.

Our ambition

The resilience of collectives, punters and DJs over this period has been well documented. This is not the story that Secret Location (TBA), a UTS student documentary under the direction of third-year Vanessa Lam, seeks to capture. Instead, we wish to interrogate the factors contributing to the scene’s success and enlighten audiences on why this scene is so crucial to young creatives. What is it that makes these spaces so special? Why is it that young Sydneysiders consistently magnetise to these spaces despite the inner-city opening up again? On the flipside, why have they encountered such heavy-handed policing? From where do the stereotypes about the underground party scene originate?