CinemaDuo announces quidditch documentary
The most ambitious third-party quiddit...
CinemaDuo filmmakers Mike Alfieri and Danielle Barcena. Photo Credit: CinemaDuo
CinemaDuo, which consists of partners Mike Alfieri and Danielle Barcena, plans to record footage of multiple teams from their headquarters in the Bay Area, including filming extensively at February's Western Regional Championship in Placer Valley, CA. This spring, Alfieri and Barcena will travel along with 80 IQA teams to Kissimmee, FL, site of World Cup VI. By filming over the course of an entire season, the pair hope to tell the story behind quidditch in a brand new way.
“Filmmakers are journalists,” said Alfieri about the direction that he hopes the project will take. “The story about how competitive quidditch got started is the same, in essence, to any sport.”
Alfieri and Barcena began collecting preliminary footage at the Bay Area Scrimmage tournament held at the University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, CA) in September, and were warmly received by the teams present. The pair were excited to find such enthusiasm for their project among the very subjects they were hoping to cover.
“You can't even quantify how much of a help that is,” said Alfieri of the support. The feeling was mutual, according to Edward Mar of San Jose State University (San Jose, CA.)
“Compared from what I have seen from past filmmakers they seemed to be [...] enthusiastic,” he said. Alfieri describes the visit to the Berkeley campus as the turning point that convinced the pair that the idea of a quidditch documentary was worth pursuing.
Katrina Hall of the University of California, Berkeley. Photo Credit: CinemaDuo
The IQA will act as a fiscal sponsor for the project, allowing CinemaDuo to better meet its fundraising goals for production, post-production, and distribution. Even more importantly, the IQA's connections with its teams will allow Alfieri and Barcena facilitated communication with players, many of whom have already expressed support for such a project.
“It's good to keep a tab on how quickly quidditch is evolving, especially this year,” said Kristine Nguyen of the University of Kansas (Lawrence, KS.) “And since it spans over a season, then we'd have a good grasp on how teams change depending on how their season is going and the competition.”
CinemaDuo's work has been featured by Paramount Pictures, the History Channel, and EA Sports, among others. Alfieri and Barcena hope that this film will have an exposure reflective of their company's diverse background, and that it will be used as an introduction for newcomers to the sport even as it includes aspects that they anticipate will make it a hit with current players.
The features of quidditch that Alfieri and Barcena expressed a desire to capture in their film align with the main focuses of the IQA, often referred to as the three “C's:” competition, creativity, and community. The duo spoke in an interview of their goal to be as impartial as possible, and to avoid unduly highlighting the predilections to which many quidditch newcomers are subject.
“I knew there was more to the sport of quidditch and the people who play it than what I was reading,” said Alfieri of his reaction upon discovering the sport. “This is a story that needs to be told…needs to be given a real voice.”
The prospect of a quidditch documentary draws comparisons with Boxer Films' Brooms Up!, which was recorded entirely at World Cup IV in Manhattan in 2010, and has since become a seminal video in the sport's admittedly small film canon. Judging from Alfieri and Barcena's plans, CinemaDuo's work will follow in that film's footsteps, while being the first of its kind to trace gameplay over the course of an entire season.
While the project will focus heavily on the competitive aspect of quidditch, Alfieri and Barcena have also begun reaching out to individual players to provide personal testimonies about the sport. The pair began soliciting contacts from among current players at the Bay Area Scrimmage, and hope to expand this list to include players from across the country by requesting that interested individuals contact them at casting@cinemaduo.com. Alfieri and Barcena also maintain a Twitter presence, @CinemaDuo, and a blog that can be found at http://www.cinemaduo.com/news. In the next several weeks, they plan to release a poster for the film, as well as a teaser trailer.
CinemaDuo hopes that by not only portraying the level of competition inherent in the sport, but focusing on the individuals who play it, the documentary will introduce the true story of quidditch to a wider audience.
“If anyone likes a good movie about characters,” said Barcena, “this is definitely going to be for them.”
