The life cycle of a pop star tends to follow a set trajectory, which over the years has been whittled back to its most brutal set of inevitabilities in sober biopics (The Doors; Walk the Line), and mocked in spoofs (This is Spinal Tap; Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story). A tough climb to the top is rewarded with indulgent adulation; a frail ego swells; true love is squandered in favour of heartless promiscuity, and narcotics consumed in horse-numbing quantities; death prematurely swings its scythe.

Despite the grim familiarity of this blueprint, personal megafame remains addictive to many artists (and stage mothers: observe how Dina Lohan continues to push her younger child into the same unforgiving spotlight that has almost destroyed the sanity of her elder one, Lindsay). Rarely does a major music celebrity take the informed decision to walk away from the most traumatic parts of the fame game and redirect his or her talents.

In a move that brilliantly reversed the expectations of an increasingly celebrity-obsessed culture, Damon Albarn did exactly that. As lead singer of Blur, he surfed the biggest waves of the 1990s Britpop boom: he was a vibrant performer, a sex symbol, an agent provocateur and a ceaselessly inventive songwriter. When Blur went their separate ways, Albarn found a smart way to keep working without the baggage of iconhood. With the brilliant UK comic book illustrator Jamie Hewlett (co-creator of another 1990s cultural totem, Tank Girl), he dreamed up a set of fictional band members and created Gorillaz. There have been virtual bands before, of course – from Alvin and the Chipmunks to Josie and the Pussycats – but multi-platinum album sales and five Grammy nominations have made Gorillaz the most successful such act of all time.

Produced by 2007 EIFF/Skillset Trailblazer Rachel Connors, Ceri Levy’s vibrant, impish documentary follows the full seven-year history of this most celebratory and inventive of projects – which, in the final ironic twist, has become more internationally successful than Blur.