Fantastic Fest 2011

Producer Harry Knowles, James Darling (lead role) and Se Young (lead role) live in person!

One of the most potentially traumatic situations in my position is having a friend submit a film they have either produced, written or directed. At first you are thrilled for the person for even completing such an epic task. That thrill is quickly tempered, however, by the dread of having to let them down gently if it doesn’t quite measure up. With such dread in my heart did I drive up to festival co-founder Harry Knowles’ house last month to check out a screening of COMIC-CON EPISODE FOUR: A FAN’S HOPE in his living room. Harry is a producer on Comic-Con and helped Morgan Spurlock navigate some of the more hard-core corners of the epic convention.

I had a sinking feeling that Spurlock himself would be in front of the camera snarking around the festival in a stormtrooper outfit taking low-blow potshots at our nerd family like some sort of schoolyard bully. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Instead of a SUPER SIZE ME deconstruction, Morgan Spurlock chooses to show us the magical journey that is Comic-Con. Seven disparate individuals are all planning to attend, each with their own hopes, dreams and aspirations. A soldier wants to become a comic artist; a San Bernardino goth girl makes animatronic monsters in her garage; an oldguard comic-book vendor is concerned about the changing marketplace of the convention; a twenty-something movie geek is looking for romance; and a bartender at perhaps the nerdiest bar in the known universe aspires to be a graphic illustrator. We are along for the ride from beginning to riveting conclusion.

In the end, Morgan Spurlock has respectfully captured the magic and wonder of nerddom better than any other filmmaker. Harry was reticent to suggest playing the film at Fantastic Fest, but I forced the issue. No other film I have seen this year captures the spirit of the Fantastic Fest audience like COMIC-CON EPISODE FOUR: A FAN’S HOPE, and I am proud to select it as our 2011 Closing Night fi lm. (Tim League)

After the film, be sure to join all the other super Fantastic Fest attendees at the closing night party - the SUPER HERO CARNIVAL!