Darkon Keeps On

Following on from the news that SXSW '05 breakouts the Duplass Brothers will be getting their new movie Baghead shown at this year's festival (plus, as revealed here, a midnight sneak preview), another SXSW veteran is re-emerging: Darkon, which won the SXSW '06 audience award for documentary feature, has finally got a DVD release.

The film about the weird and wonderful world of LARPing (that's live action roleplaying to you) got its world debut at the Convention Center that year, with cast and crew in attendance. When I spoke with co-directors Luke Meyer and Andrew Neel at the time, they pointed out the value of film festivals: They'd spent over a year dedicated to making this film, hanging out with the Darkonians (as they call themselves) and standing in cold, wet fields in Maryland. But because they'd been living the film, they both said they weren't sure whether it was any good or not. Talking to them after a screening, they seemed struck by both surprise and elation that a room full of strangers (who all could have found something else to do) not only sat through their movie, but gave them a standing ovation afterwards. Which has to be nice.