This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/oct/14/mudbloods-inspirational-sports-film-about-quidditch
The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Previous version
1
Next version
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Mudbloods: an inspirational sports film … about quidditch | Mudbloods: an inspirational sports film … about quidditch |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| “Do you fly? And how does the snitch work?” | “Do you fly? And how does the snitch work?” |
| These are the first two questions any intrepid observer of real-life muggle quidditch is wont to ask. I myself asked them of the first quidditch players I ever encountered – secretly but ardently hoping that someone had figured out the exact combination of fairy dust and quantum physics needed to simulate flight. No, players do not fly, and the snitch is really just a ball-in-a-sock contraption attached to a sprightly human dressed in yellow; but yes, muggle quidditch is real, it’s wonderful and it’s catching on faster than you can say “Accio Quaffle”. | These are the first two questions any intrepid observer of real-life muggle quidditch is wont to ask. I myself asked them of the first quidditch players I ever encountered – secretly but ardently hoping that someone had figured out the exact combination of fairy dust and quantum physics needed to simulate flight. No, players do not fly, and the snitch is really just a ball-in-a-sock contraption attached to a sprightly human dressed in yellow; but yes, muggle quidditch is real, it’s wonderful and it’s catching on faster than you can say “Accio Quaffle”. |
| According to now well-established lore, (non-magical) quidditch was invented in 2005 at Middlebury College in Vermont, and has been steadily gaining traction ever since. In the pages of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter novels, quidditch is a globally popular – and oftentimes bloody – semi-contact sport played by witches and wizards. In our (sadly) human world, quidditch remains a sometimes-bloody semi-contact sport played mostly on university campuses, but athletes swap flying firebolts for plain broomsticks, which they grip in one hand and run with nestled between their legs. | According to now well-established lore, (non-magical) quidditch was invented in 2005 at Middlebury College in Vermont, and has been steadily gaining traction ever since. In the pages of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter novels, quidditch is a globally popular – and oftentimes bloody – semi-contact sport played by witches and wizards. In our (sadly) human world, quidditch remains a sometimes-bloody semi-contact sport played mostly on university campuses, but athletes swap flying firebolts for plain broomsticks, which they grip in one hand and run with nestled between their legs. |
| “It took me months to understand all the strategy in it and how complicated it really is,” said Farzad Sangari, the writer and director of Mudbloods, a new documentary about the world of muggle quidditch. | “It took me months to understand all the strategy in it and how complicated it really is,” said Farzad Sangari, the writer and director of Mudbloods, a new documentary about the world of muggle quidditch. |
| “It’s exhilarating,” Sangari said of the first time he picked up a broom to play. “I mean you’re in public, you’re on a broom, you’re running around and people are looking at you – it’s simultaneously really embarrassing but also really exhilarating.” | “It’s exhilarating,” Sangari said of the first time he picked up a broom to play. “I mean you’re in public, you’re on a broom, you’re running around and people are looking at you – it’s simultaneously really embarrassing but also really exhilarating.” |
| But playing, he said, is what “made me realise how athletic and amazing these people were”. | But playing, he said, is what “made me realise how athletic and amazing these people were”. |
| Sangari was studying film at UCLA when he first saw the university’s team playing. He initially made a 10-minute short about the team for class, and thought he’d move on. But something about the quidditch story kept pulling him back. | Sangari was studying film at UCLA when he first saw the university’s team playing. He initially made a 10-minute short about the team for class, and thought he’d move on. But something about the quidditch story kept pulling him back. |
| Over the next few months, Sangari spent endless hours with the UCLA quidditch team, the main subjects of Mudbloods. He followed the quirky underdogs, camera in tow, all the way to Quidditch World Cup V, which took place in New York in 2011, where they would eventually face off with the undefeated champions of the quidditch world: Middlebury College. | Over the next few months, Sangari spent endless hours with the UCLA quidditch team, the main subjects of Mudbloods. He followed the quirky underdogs, camera in tow, all the way to Quidditch World Cup V, which took place in New York in 2011, where they would eventually face off with the undefeated champions of the quidditch world: Middlebury College. |
| The struggle of the UCLA team to be recognised as more than just campus weirdos is told through Sangari’s respectful lens. His passion is evident in every action shot of a bludger knocking a player to the ground, of rousing speeches by burgeoning quidditch captains or quiet moments with Katie Aiani, the Biggest Harry Potter Fan in the World (seriously). Rather than make a film about “Harry Potter freaks”, which players in the film explain is the most typical reaction of outside observers, Sangari took the time to really get to know the players and their fledgling sport, to make a subtle but impassioned film. | |
| Mudbloods is Sangari’s first feature. He raised funds for the film by launching a kickstarter campaign*, drawing on the Harry Potter and quidditch communities to spread the word, communities he says he is so deeply indebted to for their generosity. The film has since been making the rounds at film festivals and will be available for digital download worldwide on iTunes on 14 October. | Mudbloods is Sangari’s first feature. He raised funds for the film by launching a kickstarter campaign*, drawing on the Harry Potter and quidditch communities to spread the word, communities he says he is so deeply indebted to for their generosity. The film has since been making the rounds at film festivals and will be available for digital download worldwide on iTunes on 14 October. |
| In many ways, the film-maker got lucky, capturing the magic right at its inception. The team he chose to profile were dogged in their spirit to take quidditch by storm. But filming was also happening at a time when quidditch was attempting to cross over from niche interest into mainstream sport. World Cup V – which cost more than $200,000 to put on – had more than 96 teams from around the world compete in front of thousands of spectators, there both for the pageantry and the sport. Since then, the number of players has swelled, and hundreds of teams now span six continents (the US alone has 151 teams). | In many ways, the film-maker got lucky, capturing the magic right at its inception. The team he chose to profile were dogged in their spirit to take quidditch by storm. But filming was also happening at a time when quidditch was attempting to cross over from niche interest into mainstream sport. World Cup V – which cost more than $200,000 to put on – had more than 96 teams from around the world compete in front of thousands of spectators, there both for the pageantry and the sport. Since then, the number of players has swelled, and hundreds of teams now span six continents (the US alone has 151 teams). |
| Mudbloods tries to encompass all the complexities and nuance of the quidditch world into just 85 minutes: from boiling down the 200-page, 700-rule manual into an animated sequence which attempts to explain the sport to non-initiates, to capturing the aggressive matches on film. Sometimes the film can feel rushed. But that scrappiness is an accurate reflection of quidditch’s pioneer spirit. | Mudbloods tries to encompass all the complexities and nuance of the quidditch world into just 85 minutes: from boiling down the 200-page, 700-rule manual into an animated sequence which attempts to explain the sport to non-initiates, to capturing the aggressive matches on film. Sometimes the film can feel rushed. But that scrappiness is an accurate reflection of quidditch’s pioneer spirit. |
| In a way, Mudbloods is but the latest take in the “inspirational sports film” genre, that most American of narratives. But the lack of legitimacy afforded the athletes by a world not yet ready for quidditch makes Mudbloods sometimes feel more Spellbound than Friday Night Lights. | In a way, Mudbloods is but the latest take in the “inspirational sports film” genre, that most American of narratives. But the lack of legitimacy afforded the athletes by a world not yet ready for quidditch makes Mudbloods sometimes feel more Spellbound than Friday Night Lights. |
| This is the first sustained glimpse at quidditch, from the inside. For many of us who were at World Cup V, there was a certain momentousness in the air, a palpable sense of ingenuity and history and camaraderie and genuine quirk. Mudbloods effectively captures that all, creating a cocooning nostalgia for someone like me, who’d seen it all before. But I’d challenge anyone who’s ever felt marginalised or weird, or been cast in the misfit mould to not feel some kind of nostalgia. The identity politics at play for many of these kids who are just trying to find their place and are trying to leave their mark, all the while having fun in making something new, should take everyone back to a more innocent time. For this is the ultimate underdog story: the UCLA team and the sport as a whole have been the source of ridicule for long enough. Mudbloods might just be the final push to get quidditch some mainstream appreciation. | This is the first sustained glimpse at quidditch, from the inside. For many of us who were at World Cup V, there was a certain momentousness in the air, a palpable sense of ingenuity and history and camaraderie and genuine quirk. Mudbloods effectively captures that all, creating a cocooning nostalgia for someone like me, who’d seen it all before. But I’d challenge anyone who’s ever felt marginalised or weird, or been cast in the misfit mould to not feel some kind of nostalgia. The identity politics at play for many of these kids who are just trying to find their place and are trying to leave their mark, all the while having fun in making something new, should take everyone back to a more innocent time. For this is the ultimate underdog story: the UCLA team and the sport as a whole have been the source of ridicule for long enough. Mudbloods might just be the final push to get quidditch some mainstream appreciation. |
| * Full disclosure: the author backed Mudbloods on Kickstarter. | * Full disclosure: the author backed Mudbloods on Kickstarter. |
Previous version
1
Next version