Short film explores Detroit techno with Richie Hawtin at the helm

_{15 August 2025 | Photo: Diane Michelle (left to right: Richie Hawtin, Luke Jaden)}

The film takes its inspiration from Richie Hawtin’s landmark Packard Plant party in 1994

Richie Hawtin has produced a new short film capturing the spirit of Detroit’s underground techno culture in the ’90s.

Now streaming via video platform NOWNESS, Kids Like Us follows a group of outsiders finding their way and shaping their identities through the raw energy of underground techno. Shot on 35mm, the nine-minute piece is rooted in the legendary Spastik party at the Packard Plant, the very night Hawtin first introduced his now-iconic Plastikman moniker.

“I felt like the underground techno world is so cinematic and that it deserved to be documented in a truthful way through the stories, music and the visuals. We actually shot the film at an techno party in Detroit and the goal was to make this film feel as real and as authentic as possible to an actual techno party experience,” writer and director Luke Jaden told Resident Advisor.

Richie Hawtin reflected on his first encounters with the film’s director in an Instagram post, saying: "When I first met Luke Jaden I could tell that he was fascinated by the stories he had heard about the early days of the Detroit rave scene and our Plastikman warehouse parties. After a series of long conversations I sensed that he wanted to uncover the true magic of those times… that’s what you’ll glimpse in his short film! Thanks for your perseverance Luke and for bringing this trip back into our eyes and ears."