The Secret Life of Ibiza: From Club Classics to Off-Grid Paradise Documentary

Three million people rock up to Ibiza each summer, most of them chasing the same well-worn path between superclubs and beach bars. It’s a formula that works, DJs, massive venues, and the kind of nightlife that’s become the island’s calling card. But there’s obviously more to the place than what ends up on the Instagram feeds.

Hervé Bouchaud’s 2020 documentary for Sable Rouge takes a look at what’s happening away from all that. While someone like Carl Cox is doing his thing night after night, twenty years on the island and still feeling the pressure to deliver for those packed clubs, there’s a completely different scene playing out elsewhere.

Up in the island’s caves, you’ll find people like Ismael, who’ve basically opted out of the whole tourist economy. They’re not particularly interested in the commercial side of things. For them, Ibiza has always been about something else entirely, there’s this local belief that the rock formations off the coast are some kind of powerful energy centre. Whether you buy into that or not is beside the point, really.

The film captures this odd contrast quite nicely: on one hand, you’ve got the relentless cycle of the club scene, with DJs competing for the biggest gigs and punters paying premium prices for their weekend escape. On the other, there are these communities that have found their own way of connecting with whatever it is that makes Ibiza special, something that existed long before the first superclub opened its doors.

It’s not exactly groundbreaking stuff, but it’s a decent reminder that behind the well-oiled tourism machine, there’s still an island with its own character and history. Some people just prefer to experience it without the queues and the cover charges.

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