COURTESY OF LVHIFF A deejay and dancers in their element.

Spinning stars

Jason Rem's introduction to the world of electronic dance music was as illuminating and immediate as flicking on a switch.

"Put the Needle on the Record" USA, part of the festival's Western Showcase Playing at 4 p.m. Monday and 9:45 p.m. Oct. 28 at the Dole Cannery cineplex Rating: Details: HIFF runs through Oct. 31. Tickets are $8. Check the Web site hiff.org for a schedule, or call 528-4433.

Almost on a whim, Rem, a TV sports producer by trade, attended the notoriously unrestrained Winter Music Conference in Miami two years ago, and found himself thunderstruck by the strange and wonderful culture of dance music. "I couldn't even say I was a casual fan, because I really didn't know too much about it," he expresses. "But when it was all over, I said 'I want to do a documentary of what's going on here.'"

Disillusioned with the drudgery of covering press conferences and contract disputes of millionaire athletes, Rem discovered a renewed interest in his chosen medium through the all-out bacchanalia in South Florida. "The event, and being immersed in all of the things that go on in electronic music, were what pulled me completely out of sports. When I came home, I decided Miami was going to be the place to do my first film. It was so perfect because, from around the world, all the biggest musical talent goes there for this event. There was always someone famous to talk to or another huge party to go to."

In assembling footage for "Put the Needle on the Record," his maiden endeavor, Rem learned that keeping pace with today's top deejays is no easy feat. A crew of 20 toiled from 11 a.m. to 5 a.m. each day for five days, bouncing between clubs, beaches and hotels, and shooting more than 45 hours of footage. Despite warnings of irascible and unapproachable deejays, much of the talent agreed to be interviewed for the film, and happily imparted their views on their craft, their lifestyle and the history and future of dance music.

Already tabbed as the rock superstar's inevitable successor, it's clear the deejay has never had it so good. The fame, acclaim and globe-spanning excursions enjoyed by its forerunner are now the spoils of electronica's elite. Throngs of bodies are amassed at every event throughout the film as evidence. "There's no doubt the deejay is the catalyst and the lifeline between the audience and the music," states Rem. "Whether you're buying his mix CD in the store or going to a nightclub in your hometown or even flying to another city to see these deejays as a lot of fans do, the deejay is the personality."

Heralded figures Jesse Saunders, Roger Sanchez, Danny Tenaglia, Mark Farina (who was just here last weekend), Christopher Lawrence, Donald Glaude and dozens of other giants of electronica are indeed the stars of this project, as Rem emphasizes club culture from the deejay's perspective.

With a candidness their fans are rarely privy to, they speak genuinely of their art, and if only for 80 minutes, give this complex and amorphous music scene the visual component it has long yearned for.