AN ANTIDOTE FILMS PRODUCTION
A KEVEN MCALESTER FILM
THE
DUNGEON MASTERS
Directed by
Keven McAlester
Cinematography by
Lee Daniel
Original Score by
Blonde Redhead
Running Time: 87 minutes
PUBLICITY:
Katheline Ruiz
Antidote International Films, Inc.
200 Varick Street, Suite
502 NY, NY 10014
T: 646.486.4344 ext. 303
E: katheline@antidotefilms.com
SYNOPSIS
An evil drow elf is displaced by Hurricane Katrina. A sanitation worker lures
friends into a “Sphere of Annihilation.” A failed super-villain starts a cable-access show
involving ninjas, puppets and a cooking segment.
These are the characters, real and imagined, of Keven McAlester’s documentary
THE DUNGEON MASTERS. Against the backdrop of crumbling middle-class America,
two men and one woman devote their lives to Dungeons and Dragons, the storied roleplaying game, and its various descendants. As their baroque fantasies clash with
mundane real lives, the characters find it increasingly difficult to allay their fear,
loneliness, and disappointment with the game’s imaginary triumphs. Soon the true heroic
act of each character's real life emerges, and the film follows each as he or she
summons the courage to face it. Along the way, THE DUNGEON MASTERS re-imagines
the tropes of classic heroic cinema, creating an intimate portrait of minor struggles and
triumphs writ large.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
I have never played Dungeons and Dragons. This did not, you might imagine,
immediately endear me to the people I approached to be subjects of THE DUNGEON
MASTERS. (Or to its producers, for that matter.) I was routinely mocked for having
never seen a “demilich,” or even a full one. I was told to leave a gaming room because
I asked what “THACO” meant. (Answer: To Hit Armor Class Zero. Long story.)
Questions like, “why can’t a living being outrun a giant piece of jello?” were met with
appropriate derision for a man who had never considered the short stride of a dwarf
when compared to the slithering ability of a Gelatinous Cube.
My defense was consistent: this was not a film about role-playing games
themselves, or even about gaming; it was about the lives of gamers, about the
intersection between fantasy and reality, about identifying heroic gestures, however
small, in real lives in modern America. It would, in short, be something different than a
standard-issue gaming doc.
And necessarily so. Documentaries about eccentric subcultures have, over the
past decade, become poor men’s genre films. The original source of their powershowing us a world we hadn’t seen before—has since become the source of their
predictability: characters become types, eccentricities become tropes, and repetition
dilutes thought into mannerism. Complicating matters, reality television, cheap
technology, and internet self-distribution have conspired to severely reduce the unknown
corners of our world; what once seemed unusual is now a reality webisode on your
iPhone.
All of these developments, it turns out, also represent the way forward for a
documentary filmmaker. They eliminate the crutches: Glossing over an incoherent visual
style by calling it “cinéma vérité”; ignoring the niceties of story or meaning by coasting
on the novelty and charm of your subjects; using score to add volume to a flagging
story, rather than as an actual thematic element. In sum, they’ve made it ever easier to
grasp the difference between well-edited footage and an actual, you know, movie.
Whether The Dungeon Masters succeeds at all of this is, of course, for the viewer
to decide. Because, in the end, one thing about documentaries has not changed at all:
it’s still really hard to make good ones. I can only hope you enjoy watching this film as
much as I did making it.
–Keven McAlester
NOTES FROM THE WORLD PREMIERE
Making a documentary on pop culture has many dangers, from nostalgia to
smugness and condescension. THE DUNGEON MASTERS is a rare example of a film
that avoids all of these pitfalls and portrays characters rich in complexity. It follows three
Dungeons and Dragons gamers living in unglamorous corners of lower-middle-class
America. Over the course of one year, we see how their real-life aspirations are fuelled
by the worlds of their imaginations. Scott, whose self-deprecating humor has not
translated into success as a budding novelist, struggles to support his wife and son.
Elizabeth, an attractive twenty-three-year-old who dresses as a dark elf, seeks
companionship after a failed marriage. Richard, who has a penchant for killing makebelieve characters, aspires to reconnect with the real stepson he abandoned. Even if you
find it hard to identify with the role-playing fantasy lives of these individuals, it's easy to
empathize with their human selves.
The film reunites the talents of director Keven McAlester and cinematographer Lee
Daniel, who is best known for shooting many of Richard Linklater's films. The first
collaboration between McAlester and Daniel, You're Gonna Miss Me, explored the
schizophrenic world of singer Roky Erickson, and earned an Independent Spirit Award
nomination. THE DUNGEON MASTERS shares that film's discerning eye for detail. The
opening scene at the annual gaming convention Gen Con establishes the milieu, as
participants wander through Indianapolis dressed as magicians and swordsmen. The
camera's gaze may find the humor in the story, but it is also full of affection. The film's
mood is enhanced by a whimsical and haunting score by the band Blonde Redhead.
Seeking escape from life is a universal instinct. For some people, it takes the form
of D&D; for others, film festivals. Our imaginations allow us to draw strength and
courage to overcome life's setbacks and surprises. In The Dungeon Masters, we're
reminded that all rewards come with a certain risk.
-Thom Powers, Toronto International Film Festival
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
Keven McAlester, Director
Keven McAlester was born in New Haven, Connecticut; grew up in Dallas, Texas;
and graduated from Harvard University. The resulting confusion led to stints as a
newspaper editor, underground deejay, and amateur ornithologist before he began
making films.
THE DUNGEON MASTERS is his second feature. His first film, YOU'RE
GONNA MISS ME, won the jury prize at AFI's Silverdocs festival, and was nominated
for Best Documentary at the 2006 Independent Spirit Awards. His other recent work
includes "Seven Plus or Minus Two," a short film installation now showing at the
Akademie der Künste, Berlin; and music videos for Spoon, the New Year, and Caroline
Polachek of Chairlift. He's also currently producing a documentary by director Rory
Kennedy for HBO. He lives in Los Angeles and New York.
Lee Daniel, Cinematographer
Cinematographer Lee Daniel has been an independent film stalwart since his first
feature, SLACKER, became an international phenomenon in 1991. His ongoing
collaboration with director Richard Linklater has resulted in such films as the iconic
DAZED AND CONFUSED, the Cannes selection FAST FOOD NATION, and the BEFORE
SUNRISE/BEFORE SUNSET series. He's also shot numerous documentaries, including the
Sundance hit THE UNFORESEEN.
THE DUNGEON MASTERS is his second feature with director Keven McAlester, after
2006's Independent-Spirit nominated YOU'RE GONNA MISS ME. The pair has also
collaborated on numerous music videos, the most recent of which Daniel also codirected. He lives in Austin, Texas, where he's building a drive-in theater in his back
yard.
Blonde Redhead, Composers
Blonde Redhead is a New York-based rock band. After two decades and seven
albums together, the trio has established itself as one of the most distinctive and critically
acclaimed groups of its generation. Its most recent album, 2007's rich and densely
layered 23, was released on legendary UK indie label 4AD and universally praised as
the most beautiful and resonant album of Blonde Redhead's career. THE DUNGEON
MASTERS is the group's first film score.
Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Producer
Jeffrey Levy-Hinte is the president of Antidote Films in New York. His most recent
film and directorial debut, SOUL POWER, premiered at the 2008 Toronto International
Film Festival and had its European premiere at the 2009 Berlin International Film
Festival.
Additionally, Levy-Hinte has produced over a dozen acclaimed films, including
ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED, the widely acclaimed documentary
feature by director Marina Zenovich, which enjoyed premieres at the 2008 Sundance
Film Festival and 2008 Cannes Film Festival. It is currently in broadcast on HBO, and in
distribution by ThinkFilm, with international release coming soon from The Weinstein
Company.
Prior to that, he produced THE LAST WINTER, an eco-horror thriller co-written and
directed by Larry Fessenden. Nominated for best ensemble cast at the 2007 Gotham
Awards, the film premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival and was
recently released by IFC Films in September 2007. Also in 2007, Levy-Hinte produced
the documentary BOMB IT, a comprehensive investigation of graffiti, covering street art
from all around the world. BOMB IT premiered at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival’s
World Documentary Competition.
Selected as one of Variety’s “Producers to Watch” in 2003, he has produced
many other critically successful and award winning films, including Goldberger’s THE
HAWK IS DYING, Gregg Araki’s MYSTERIOUS SKIN, Catherine Hardwicke’s
THIRTEEN, and Lisa Cholodenko’s LAUREL CANYON. He edited the 1996 Academy
Award-winning documentary WHEN WE WERE KINGS, has served as a juror for the
Independent Spirit Awards, and is a board member for Independent Features Project
(IFP) of New York. He’s currently in preproduction on THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, the
new feature from writer/director Lisa Cholodenko.
Kel Symons, Producer
After serving three years in the U.S. Army, Kel Symons spent a decade running
producer Mace Neufeld’s production company, overseeing the development of dozens
of film and television projects, including THE GENERAL’S DAUGHTER, starring John
Travolta; and THE SUM OF ALL FEARS, based on the best-selling Tom Clancy novel.
Kel also wrote the adapted screenplay from the best-selling novel The Lion’s Game,
by author Nelson DeMille for Columbia Pictures, and co-wrote the short Interview With
The Crab from the Jonathan Lethem short story, as part of PROMISCUOUS STORIES,
an anthology film of Lethem’s work slated for production in fall of 2008. He is currently
co-producing Warner Bros.’ THE HUMAN FACTOR, starring Matt Damon and Morgan
Freeman.
Brian Gerber, Producer
Brian Gerber is a Los Angeles based producer. He most recent work was THE
11TH HOUR, a feature length documentary on the state of the environment produced
and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, which had its world premiere at the 2007 Cannes
Film Festival and was released theatrically by Warner Independent Pictures in August
2007.
He has produced projects for Paramount Pictures, Disney, Universal, The Weather
Channel, PBS, Global Green USA, IFAW and the Council on Foreign Relations. Brian
also serves on the Board of Directors of the International Documentary Association, and
is and is Senior Vice President of Tree Media Group, an environmentally focused
production company.
Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay, Executive Producers
MATT MANFREDI and PHIL HAY are the screenwriting team behind the critically
acclaimed Touchstone drama CRAZY/ BEAUTIFUL and the Paramount science fiction
epic AEON FLUX. Manfredi wrote and the pair directed the independent film BUG,
which won awards at festivals including Mar Del Plata, Fantasporto, and Santa Barbara.
THE DUNGEON MASTERS marks their debut as producers.
Victor Livingston, Supervising Editor
A veteran editor of feature and television documentaries, Victor Livingston’s
feature work includes CRUMB, BUKOWSKI, and SHAKESPEARE BEHIND BARS. Among
his television work is a David Blaine special, several episodes of "The Real World," and
bios of Billy Wilder and Woodrow Wilson.
Christine Khalafian, Editor
Christine Khalafian is a filmmaker and editor. She is best known for her work on
Kirby Dick's THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED. Her short films have shown at the Rotterdam
Film Festival, LAFF and Sundance Film Festival.
THE DUNGEON MASTERS
CREDITS
directed by
Keven McAlester
produced by
Jeffrey Levy-Hinte
Kel Symons
Brian Gerber
executive producers
Phil Hay
Matt Manfredi
co-producer
Takeo Hori
cinematographer
Lee Daniel
supervising editor
Victor Livingston
editor
Christine Khalafian
original score
Blonde Redhead
songs
The Feelies
Guided By Voices
Cannibal Maggot Epidemic
Blonde Redhead
The New Year
Bangs
music supervisor
Joe Rudge
music coordinator
Ryan Barnes
title design
Andy Goldman
end titles
Ricardo Galbis
additional photography
Matthew Buzzell
Patrice Cochet
Adam McDaid
Declan Ryan
Lisa Wiegand
John Bush
steadicam operator
Nikk Hearn-Sutton
motion control
Chad Esh
camera assistant
Ronnie Dennis (Seattle)
sound
Mike Budzik
Mike Curtiss
Rob Hearn
Penny Smith
Dan Taylor
Chad Robertson
Sam Watson
Jason Boswell
Bill Ruth
Russell White
additional editing
Eric Potter
Sean McQueeny
audio post facility
Digit Audio Inc.
sound supervisor
Tom Efinger
re-recording mixer
Brian Scibinico
sound design
John Moros
assistant sound editor
Jeff Seelye
foley engineer
Eric Gitelson
foley artist
Leslie Bloom
Digit in-house producer
Alicia Loving
post-production finishing
Local Hero Post
d.i. colorist
Blake Norelius
digital intermediate producers
Doug Fox
Leandro Marini
digital intermediate supervisor
Mary Liz Thomson
online editors
Adrian Scherger
Alicia Martinez
Antidote International Films
vice president
Takeo Hori
post production supervisor
James Debbs
office manager
Gerry Kim
production accountant
Derrick Goulet
production insurance
Truman Van Dyke Company
production assistants
Kathie Pomposo
Natasha Atalla
Thorn Michaels
Lissette Schuster
Tabatha Conrad
Shannon Simonsen
Rob Howland
Jeff Lock
Skyler Ng
music
“Prelude”
“Il Padroni (Main Theme)”
“Prologue I. Scherzando”
“Prologue II. Divertente”
“Prologue III. Cascata”
“Prologue IV. Doloroso”
“Interlude I. Curioso”
“Ambient I: La Donna Sola”
“Interlude II: Con Speranza”
“Ambient II: L'Inverno Venente”
“Interlude III: Con Disperazione”
“Ambient III: Il Periodo”
“Reprise II: Le Scuse”
“Interlude IV: Nuova Speranza”
“Epilogue/Final Reprise: Il Vero Padrone”
Written by Blonde Redhead
Performed by Blonde Redhead
Appearing courtesy 4AD Records
“Playful Pizzicato” from Simple Symphony, Op. 4
Written by Benjamin Britten
(c)1935 by the Britten Estate Limited
All publishing rights exercised worldwide by Oxford University Press
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Courtesy of Naxos of America, Inc.
“Every Move I Make”
Written by David Ruiz
Performed by Shout to the Lord Kids
© 1996 Mercy/Vineyard Publishing (ASCAP)/Vineyard Songs (Canada) (SOCAN)/
ION Publishing (SOCAN)
Administered in North America by Music Services o/b/o Vineyard Music USA
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
From Integrity Media, Inc. release “Shout Praises! Shout To The Lord”
“Reprise I. L'autore e L'assassino”
Written by Blonde Redhead
Arranged and Produced by Daniel Epstein, Gary Schriener, Robert Adams, and Clark Vogeler
“Symphony #8 in F Major, Op. 93 II. Allegretto Scherzando”
Written by Ludwig Van Beethoven
Courtesy of 5 Alarm Music
“Dirty Knives”
Performed by Bangs
Written by Maggie Vail, Sarah Utter and Peter David Connelly
Publishing by Sweet Portion (ASCAP)
Courtesy of Kill Rock Stars
“Erin’s Song”
Written and Performed by Curt Sobel and Gary Schreiner
Courtesy of Palisades Music Productions
“Folios”
Written by Bubba Kadane and Matt Kadane
Performed by The New Year
Published by Bedhead Songs
Courtesy of Touch & Go Records
“Lasciatemi Morire”
Written by Claudio Monteverdi
Performed by Melissa Williams
“TV News #1”
Written and Performed by Curt Sobel and Gary Schreiner
Courtesy of Palisades Music Productions
“Push It (Full Version)”
Written and Performed by Curt Sobel and Gary Schreiner
Courtesy of Palisades Music Productions
“Wizards of Finland”
Written by Michael Rudnicki
Performed by Cannibal Maggot Epidemic
Published by Ed Lobster Music Publishing
Courtesy of Galloping Norseman Records
“Ninjas of Torrance”
Written by Daniel Epstein
Performed by Daniel Epstein
Published by Daniel Epstein Music (ASCAP)
“Partita No. 1 in B Flat, BWV 825: II. Allemande”
Written by J.S. Bach
Performed by Daniel Epstein
“Capriccio Italien”
Written By Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Courtesy of APM Music LLC
“Sandman”
Written by Dewey Bunnell
Performed by Richard Meeks
“When Company Comes”
Written by William Clayton and Glenn Mercer
Performed by the Feelies
Published by Stationary Music (ASCAP)
Courtesy of Pravda Records
“Ghosts of a Different Dream”
Written by Robert Pollard
Performed by Guided by Voices
Courtesy of Matador Records
figurines
Conan Figurines: © 2004, 2005 Conan Properties International LLC ("CPI"). CONAN, CONAN THE
BARBARIAN, HYBORIA and/or ROBERT E. HOWARD and related logos, characters, names, and
distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks or registered trademarks of CPI and/or Robert E. Howard
Properties Inc. unless otherwise noted. All Rights Reserved.
Conan Figurines: Also used with the permission of McFarlane Toys, d/b/a TMP International, Inc. All
Rights Reserved. © TMP International, Inc.
thanks
all subjects
Mike Budzik
Joshua Malkin
Jed Grodin
Ryan Patterson
Richard and Janel Ortengren
Steve Potts
Tom Bingley
Mike Auel
David Jewell
Lance Baxendale
Steven Hawthorn
Peter D. Adkison
Stacia Kirby
Patti Burns
Clyde Brien
John Buffo
Linda Thielke
LTC Anna Sullivan, USAF
Members of 446th Air Wing, 446th MXS, Fuel Shop, McChord Air Force Base
Geoff Patrick
Carol Masnik
Cindy Hibbard
Mark Doddy
Eric Aldrich
Paul Tevis
Nichole Sickles
EVS, Burbank
Birns & Sawyer
Leslie Buhler
Rich Meyers
Lauren Hollingsworth
Adrienne Gruben
Tom Sarig
Kari Dexter
Doug Lussenhop
Ed Joyce
Ed Searles
very special thanks
Scott Silveri
Mace Neufeld
Patton Oswalt
Michelle McNamara
Stephanie Furman
Nicholas Darrow
Robert Wilonsky
Thom Powers
Richard Robbins
Seth Raab
D.W. Harper
Will Stubbs
Dan Ferenti
Megan Schwartzman
Kristin Lesko
Bubba Kadane
Dean Wareham
Glenn Mercer
Sean O’Hagan
Mac McCaughan
Mike Rudnicki
Tom Noble
Joe Wong
impossible without
Eve Epstein
Kristen Kusama
Karyn Kusama
Abby Weintraub
Arabella Field
Lee & Virginia McAlester
Colette McAlester
Amy Talkington
Robbie Adams
C.M. Talkington
Martine McAlester
Jacques E. Vroom II
Jacques E. Vroom III
Nan Coulter
Lee Symons
Karen Stoernell
Brett Symons
Helen & Bob Symons
Mimi and Albert Khalafian
This film, its producers and employees are in no way affiliated with Wizards of the Coast, its parent
corporation Hasbro Inc, or any affiliates or licensees of the Dungeons & Dragons® franchise.
Copyright MMVIII Saving Throw Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
