Daft Punk anime ‘Interstella 5555’ returns to the big screen

The first time Daft Punk took us to another planet was with Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5system, one of the most daring and memorable works of animation, which continues to set the standard 20 years later. It all began with One More Time, the first single from Discovery (2001), which not only revolutionised dance music, but also introduced us to an absolutely unique visual and sonic universe. After the colossal success of Homework (1997), the French duo took advantage of the few gaps between tours to embark on parallel projects, such as D.A.F.T.: A Story About Dogs, Androids, Firemen and Tomatoes (2000), a compilation of their first video clips, where the genius of Michel Gondry and the creativity of Spike Jonze already made it clear that Daft Punk did not see music as something isolated, but as a total experience. But it was clear to them that something was missing. The single pieces of D.A.F.T. were not enough; they wanted something bigger, more cohesive, a visual album to accompany Discovery.

The concept was clear: an animated medium-length film that would become the visual soul of the album, something that in 2023 we would consider a ‘visual album’, but which, at the time, seemed like a completely revolutionary idea. To make it happen, Daft Punk enlisted the best people: their trusted man Cédric Hervet was in charge of the script and character design, while Toei Animation’s Kazuhisa Takenouchi took on visual supervision, creating a style inspired by anime classics such as Space Battleship Yamato (1974) and Galaxy Express 999 (1978), but with a futuristic vision that perfectly matched Discovery’s cosmic atmosphere. Predictably, however, the process was not quick: while One More Time was completed in record time, the rest of Interstella 5555 took longer. In fact, the film would not see the light of day until May 2003, just in time for its debut at the Cannes Film Festival, after several years of work.

Although it never had a premiere in Spain, Interstella 5555 was screened in 2004 at In-Edit Barcelona, where it found its loyal audience, who eventually turned the film into a true cult object. Last February, on the occasion of the third anniversary of their break-up, Daft Punk celebrated the screening of the film on Twitch, and the good reception of the initiative has led to the film’s return to cinemas. But all is not as idyllic as it seems. In a somewhat disturbing twist, it has been rumoured that Toei and Wild Bunch’s recent 4K restoration of the film may contain traces of generative artificial intelligence, which would be a blatant contradiction to the values that Daft Punk have espoused since their inception, both in Discovery and Interstella 5555.

Last year, Thomas Bangalter, one of the duo’s members, explained that the unstoppable evolution of AI was one of the key reasons why Daft Punk decided to disband: ‘What I want to be in the world we live in,’ he said, ‘in 2023, is a robot’. So the question remains: are we still human in a world that is moving ever closer to the machine?

The French electronic duo have been celebrating the tenth anniversary of their fourth and latest studio album, ‘Random Access Memories’.