We Are Wizards, an independent film directed by Josh Koury, tells the story of the burgeoning Harry Potter fan community: young and not so young fans from across the country who have created their own websites, stories, and rock bands inspired by J. K. Rowling’s universe. With interviews ranging from the informative to the wacky, We Are Wizards explores the quirky and empowering world of Harry Potter fandom.

The film begins with an introduction to Wizard Rock. Though not confined to any particular musical style, Wizard Rock bands write songs that stem from the world of Harry Potter. Almost all write from the perspectives of different Rowling characters, as do Harry and the Potters, who many consider to be the founders of the genre.

Joe and Paul DeGeorge, the brothers who make up the band, more closely resemble Harry Potter himself than actual rock musicians. During one scene with the DeGeorge brothers, the frame briefly cuts to a shot of a “Wizard Rock Email List,” with only four or five names scribbled underneath. Its inclusion is brief and silly, and coupled with the brothers talking about their friends’ reaction to the band (“Who wants to see you play?!), it left me and the audience in stitches. Footage of them playing in libraries packed with screaming adolescents, however, dismisses any doubts that they have a devoted following. In their interviews, the DeGeorge brothers come off as funny and modest, blurting out lines like “Science is the new magic!” and “It’s awesome when you get seven year olds headbanging and starting their own bands.”

This seven-year-old is Darius Wilkins, sole member of the Hungarian Horntails. Darius writes and performs his own Wizard Rock songs and though he can barely strum the proper chords or hit the right notes, fans eat it up-- and most importantly, accept him as one of their own.

One of my favorite scenes was of Darius and his younger brother fervently dancing and repeatedly screaming the lines, “Dragon rock rocks! Dragon rock rocks!” to the camera. Bubbly and unscripted, the Wilkins brothers provide the film with an endearing candidness, whether they’re squabbling in the back seat of the family van or mischievously popping their heads into the screen while their parents are being interviewed.

The film has a sense of humor, no doubt about it, and this is obvious in the film’s funnyman, Brad Neely. Neely, a cartoonist for superdeluxe.com, is tied to the Harry Potter universe through his audio track “Wizard People, Dear Readers,” which is supposed to sync, a la Dark Side of the Moon, to the first Harry Potter film. Clips of the audio track have Neely narrating lines like “I am Harry ****ing Potter,” in a quavering, melodramatic voice. Neely is full of f-bombs, which may have led a woman and her kid to leave the theatre during the screening, and roguish comments like, “This is highly illegal right here. Might as well move to Mexico right the **** now.” He also tells us the story of how his audio track was pursued by Warner Brothers, the company that owns rights to the Harry Potter franchise. Says Neely: “It makes you think that corporations have these sleeper agents in trench coats and hats and they’re just looking for people who are fucking with their property.”

Copyright infringement is the focus of the next segment of the film. We learn that Warner Brothers Corporation threatens to shut down a number of popular Harry Potter fanfiction sites. Fifteen year old Heather Lawver, who is also suffering from a life-threatening disease, actually takes them on. Through a ceaseless online campaign of petitions and letters, Heather manages to unite Potter fans worldwide into a force powerful enough to cause the corporation to rethink their copyright regulations. The section on Heather is inspiring and helps to add another dimension to the film’s take on fandom.

The Harry Potter phenomenon will of course always have its opponents, which the film makes sure not to exclude. The anti-Potter documentary, Harry Potter: Witchcraft Repackaged accordingly makes a cameo appearance with the usual claims about evil and the subversion of impressionable children. Of course, this claim is laid to waste by the fact that the individuals in the film are not a bunch of Satanists but rather regular men, women, and children with creativity and passion.

This is not to say the film does not have shortcomings—namely, Neely’s George Washington animation, a wild and hilarious dig at the first president. Though it is representative of Neely’s work, its presence is odd and it could have been trimmed out to make the film tighter.

In spite of this, the film is ultimately successful. Its subjects are real and likable, its footage is raw but warm, like a home video, and there is nothing here that suggests Hollywood slickness or pretense. A montage towards the end features carefully lighted shots of the film’s individuals gazing at the camera, panoramic angles of Darius running through the streets tiny guitar case in hand, all with Harry and the Potters triumphantly singing in the background, “Dumbledore, we’ll fight for you tonight.” At this moment, this “rag-tag group of champions,” as Neely puts it, could very well put Hogwarts on any popular list.

Justin Aier is a freelance writer living in Chicago. His interests include Roky Erickon's discography and waiting in solemn anticipation for the Watchmen movie.

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