We Are Wizards is a glimpse into the world of fans inspired by Harry Potter and who have taken their love for the series a step further by creating songs, forming bands, establishing fan sites, and organizing campaigns in the name of fandom. Josh Koury’s documentary mainly pays homage to the small musical genre known as “wizard rock”with music and interviews from Harry and the Potters (Joe and Paul DeGeorge), Draco and the Malfoys (Brian Ross and Bradley Mehlenbacher), The Whomping Willows, The Hungarian Horntails (consisting of two boys, aged 4 and 7), and other bands. From Brian Ross of Draco and the Malfoys saying that his half-brother Bradley Mehlenbacher has matured as an artist due to wizard rock to seeing the parents (who are also wizard rockers) of The Hungarian Horntails dubb themselves the wizard rock version of the Partridge Family; Koury’s film does a good job showing the “wizard rock” scene and the lives of these rockers whose lives were changed by Harry Potter.
Also featured are Melissa Anelli of The Leaky Cauldron and Heather Lawver of The Daily Prophet. Lawver’s story is particularly interesting because she took on Warner Bros. by helping organize the infamous PotterWar boycott in 2001 when she was 16. PotterWar was in response to Warner Bros. sending out cease-and-desist letters to fan sites of Harry Potter. Lawver fought as a fan for the fans who wanted to start fan clubs online while corporations like Warner Bros. did not understand how to deal with this new trend of internet fandom. Professor Henry Jenkins of Massachusetts Institute of Technology offered some perpective on this, but stealing the show however is Brad Neely, a comic book artist living in Austin, Texas. Neely’s claim to fame in Harry Potter fandom was Wizard People, Dear Reader, an unauthorized spoof of Harry Potter. Watching him draw Harry, Ron, and Hermione and reminiscing about his fears of getting sued by Warner Bros. was just hilarious. He was brilliant. Interestingly enough Caryl Matrisciana, of Harry Potter: Witchcraft Repackaged fame, was interviewed for this film, giving her thoughts of Harry Potter being evil and seducing young readers to the Occult with brief responses by Melissa Anelli saying that the series is very moralistic and has Christian themes of self sacrifice and love.
We Are Wizards is very effective documentary in showing the lives of those who love Harry Potter, but suprisingly does not ask the big question of why these personalities (along with millions others) love Harry Potter. I also wonder why they showed Caryl Matrisciana representing the anti-Harry Potter position, which seems out of place in a documentary film about fans. But this film is really about the fans and how they allowed the series to fuel their own creativity in engaging J.K. Rowling’s work. Heather Lawver’s reflections on PotterWars and dealing with Dercums Disease are especially poignant, as well as being shown the everyday lives of those in wizard rock bands serves as a credit to this film. There is only so much you can show in 79 minutes, but I recommend anyone seeing this documentary for a great deal of humor (watch for the Cookie Monster comment by Joe DeGeorge), music, and a glimpse into a part of Harry Potter subculture.
We Are Wizards is playing at the Cinema Village theatre on 22 East 12 Street in Manhattan until November 20, 2008. For tickets and showtimes, click here. The official website is: www.wearewizards-themovie.com.
Flu-Bird on 
revgeorge on 
R. Ross on 
Lily Luna on 
Arabella Figg on 
Loading ...
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
We drove to NY to see this film at it’s premier. It was very well done and definately worth seeing. Like “Harry, A History”, it depicts the fans and the fandom – a topic of HIGH interest to us all.
(The fact the my kids are (briefly) seen in a WRock concert audience is just gravy.)
What showing did you go to yesterday? I went to the 9:00 p.m. showing. Awesome that your kids are seen in the film.
Looks like Denver is the closest showing to me. About four hours away. I highly doubt though that my wife will blithely let me go down for a day or so to see the film. Not that I really want to see it that much. Wizard Rock is okay but never really appealed to me that much.
Although I would be interested in the PotterWars stuff. Anelli did a good job of covering that in Harry, A History. Although her personal view seems to be along the lines of “If JKR & WB decree it, no one may speak against them.”
As regards why have a segment on Harry Haters in a documentary about fandom, well, you need a bit of controversy & what works better than some fundamentalist Christian who probably hasn’t read the books. And even if they have, they’ve missed the entire heart & point of the series. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, having on your typical Harry Hater is like shooting fish in a barrel.
After just reading the Harry Potter Witchcraft Repackaged DVD promo, yes, these people are cracked and have totally missed any point regarding the series. So, again it’s easy to have such out of touch & bent out of joint people on for a quick bash. Christians, and especially fundamentalist Christians, are among the last groups you can criticize & make fun of without being accused of hate crimes.
Ah well, might be a while until I get to see this film. Will be interested in other people’s reviews of it here. Thanks in advance.
Is this the same film they’ve been showing at conventions over the past year or so?
I found it a little tedious to be honest. Focuses too much on the personal lives of some of the fans and not enough on their sub-creations.
I’d rather just go to You Tube and watch Draco and the Malfoy videos.
Thanks for your review, Mike A. Kind of influences me against driving down to Denver over Thanksgiving weekend to see it there. My wife will be so happy.
Travis, yeah this film was shown at conventions earlier this year. I heard there was another documentary titled Wizard Rockumentary about the same topic, although We Are Wizards focused on other fans (Anelli, Lawver, etc.) as well.
revgeorge, the film is not really groundbreaking, just some fun. I hear that it is going to come out on DVD soon though with lots of extras.
Thanks for the info, Johnny. If I can find it on DVD at a reasonable price, I might get it just for the Potterwar stuff.
You can actually preorder the DVD now at their website:
http://www.wearewizards-themovie.com/pages/merch