The annual film festival aims to screen movies dedicated to the world of design, architecture, fashion and technology, and with it, their underlying sub-cultures. So, with that niche-y, high-brow expectation in mind, Red Dot Diva was a little surprised that geek culture was included in this year's festival's line-up.
To the curator Felix Ng's credit, he has managed to secure Morgan Spurlock's documentary on the Mother of all conventions - "Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope" - as a local premiere screening right here on Red Dot Island. "Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope" will be screened at The School of the Arts (SOTA)'s Drama Theatre, together with 11 other pieces, including "Google and the World Brain" and "Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present".
Now, local geeks who have been craving to get their butts to San Diego Comic-Con, will have the chance to experience what attending the world's largest comic convention might be like. If they haven't already caught the movie on DVD or *ahem* other means.
The Spurlock documentary consists of snippets with well-known pop-culture and fan favourites like Stan Lee, Joe Quesada, Frank Miller, Kevin Smith, Robert Kirkman and Joss Whedon, plus different stories of folks who are going to Comic-Con for various reasons. For example, the fledgling comic-book artist who hoped to network and get work at the convention, and a female gamer-cosplayer who has joined the Masquerade Ball and contest. And of course, there are also the colourful montages of what makes Comic-Con tick - the exhibition booths, Hall H lines, panels, cosplayers, the exclusive collectibles and the camaraderie amongst fellow attendees.
A large portion of the footage "Comic-Con Episode IV" was filmed on site at the 2010 convention. And Red Dot Diva knows of a few people who were featured in the documentary!
There is some local Red Dot Island pride even, with the Here Be Geeks dudes appearing for a few seconds (around 17:00). Now, how did they ever get that little gig, one might wonder? Red Dot Diva finds out more:
Red Dot Diva: How did you all manage to be included in the movie?
Here Be Geeks: We signed up for the auditions, and managed to get into the final round of interviews. However, we didn't pass that, but later on, we got invited to do a quick interview. So we rushed to the interview site from our hotel, and nearly missed the slot! Even if we did miss the slot, it was pretty cool to be in the studio.
Red Dot Diva: How stoked were you when you found out you were in the movie?
Here Be Geeks: We were VERY stoked! We thought we might not be shown in the documentary at all!
Red Dot Diva: After watching it, what are your quick thoughts about the documentary?
Here Be Geeks: It would have been cool to see more of us.. the storyline of one of our main contacts was cut. Even then, it was super, duper, cool. We loved the documentary and think they really brought out what it was like to be there.
Also in the movie is Red Dot Diva's Twitter UK pal Kirsty, a regular convention-goer, pop-culture lover and blogger. Kirsty was shown to utter two key words ("Zachary Quinto!") in the documentary. She had answered an ad on Comic Book Resources about appearing in the documentary and they contacted her and her friend to show up at the studio to be interviewed. "I was really excited that we were in it, I thought we wouldn't make it in because there were so many celebrities," said Kirsty to Red Dot Diva on Twitter.
However, she is not a fan of the movie because she thought that as a whole, it smacked of stereotypical moments concerning women and geek girls, and there was lack of focus on female convention goers. (Read Kirsty's review at End of Show here.) Red Dot Diva has to agree with her on quite a few levels. The comments Kevin Smith made during credit roll made her skin crawl. Ugh.
Still, the fact that the documentary was made is a commendable tribute to the nerd sub-culture that might not be so much of a sub-culture anymore, and it will at least give those who desire to attend but have yet been to Comic-Con, a vicarious thrill.
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Want to check out "Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope" on the big screen?
The movie screens on 15 June, Saturday, 5 pm.
Buy your tickets online at the official Design Film Festival website!
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