A Festival Experience Like No Other on the Planet

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MOVIE REVIEW
That Was a Serious Party
(adult content) –

Genre: Documentary
Year Released: 2022
Runtime: 1h 12m
Director(s): Dylan Harvey
Where To Watch: arrives on digital platforms on July 25

From Bohemia Media comes a documentary that shows the roots of a festival grown from a small party in a field to a massive movement where everyone is treated like they’re someone. This week, July 21 – 24, The Secret Garden Party makes a welcome return for its 20th-anniversary edition after a five-year self-imposed hiatus.

The Secret Garden Party (SGP) is a different type of festival, not that it doesn’t have music and partying, but it treats everyone in attendance the same. Too often, we all hear the horror stories of festivals gone bad, but SGP takes an entirely different approach to make theirs something different.

This film offers surprises throughout, one early on that I wasn’t expecting with some full frontal (I’m not a festival goer, so I can’t speak on how common that is); however, that only made the entire film feel more natural. Not because of that but because of how everyone around them just accepted it. There was no judgment, just someone having a blast and living their best life.

This film exists because, in 2017, it was announced that the festival would end after 15 years. This became the perfect reason to take a behind-the-scenes look at this incredible experience like no one had seen before. The film's soundtrack was just another example of how much fun the party is, using the music of past festival attendees as a backdrop to the gorgeous scenes of pure entertainment.

SGP has become the largest independent event in the UK; out of its 20,000 available passes, over 70,000 fans applied to win their entrance to the event. The good news is that those who missed out not only get to screen this film early but will also receive a link to pre-register early for next year's event. The festival has been a revolution “It was the first to introduce drugs testing, first to call for a safe sexual practices charter, first to have 360-degree welfare provisions.” Putting safety first is a welcome addition to the world of festivals and was done so naturally instead of being forced.

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