We Are Wizards

Josh Koury's We Are Wizards is not simply Trekkies for the Hogwarts set. It is not so much about the obsessed as it is about the inspired; spotlighting Harry Potter enthusiasts who have turned fandom into a source of creativity. A bulk of the documentary focuses on "wizard rock", a genre of music influenced by the books and movies in which interviews alternate between the popular Harry and the Potters to the lesser known "Wizard Rock Partridge Family", The Hungarian Horntails. Somewhere in between we get testimonies from members of groups Draco and the Malfoys, Grop, The Whomping Willows, and mention of a band called The Wands, who sing exclusively from the perspective of being a wand. Roughly 300+ bands are touring or playing shows under the guise of a specific theme from the franchise.

With the exception of cartoonist/demigod Brad Neely (who i'll get to in a minute) the non-musical subjects are not quite as interesting. Koury showcases the copyright and legal battles that continue to plague Pottermania and the religious sector, represented by one Conservative christian woman who (yawn) believes the HP franchise is the downfall of society. These angles are a bit informative, opening the debate on intellectual property and fan devotion spread across the Internet, but act mostly as a slight attempt to balance the rest of the content in the film. The lack of authority figures on the subject - Warner execs, or even Rowling herself could have introduced something more substantial and are noticeably missing.

Luckily the filmmakers concentrate most of their energy on wizard rock geeks and Brad Neely who offers up his own take on legal setbacks in creating Wizard People, Dear Reader, his narrative soundtrack to be played over the first HP film. Neely confesses that a lot of his success is a direct result of people liking this project. For the bigger fan, there's a surprising amount of backstory to Neely embedded in the documentary and it is almost always the source of the film's biggest laughs. Note the short animated segment.

You can check out information on how to get the film and watch the trailer here. It's not up for DVD distrubtion quite yet, but Amazon is currently running it in their Videos On Demand section for a $2.99 rental.