Tribeca Film Institute Distributes Live Action Role-Playing Documentary By Filmmaker Briana Young

Online, May 24, 2011 (Newswire.com) - The world of live-action role-playing (LARP) is one of performance, storytelling, gaming strategy and-most importantly-social interaction. There are no game controllers, no boards, no dice.

Filmmaker Briana Young offers Screw It, I'll Play Make-Believe, a playful and enrapturing look at this thoroughly immersive activity that for some is a cathartic release, and for others a means of escape, but for everyone who chooses to commit the time and expense of doing it, LARPing is addictive fun that allows fully grown adults to engage in the magical realm of make-believe.

In this 38-minute film Young explores this subculture by following two different role-playing groups: A theater-style group that improvs through a Lost-esque story of an island wedding gone awry; and a combat-style group enacting an epic battle between elves, humans and orcs. Though the two are distinctive in their approach, Young identifies here not only what unifies their experiences, but reveals the universal human needs that LARPing can satisfy.

The Tribeca Film Institute distributes this Screw It, I'll Play Make-Believe through their TFI Reframe Collection, which specialize in hard-to-find independent, educational and experimental films for home and institutional use. Screw It, I'll Play Make-Believe is available for purchase and instant stream rental through the TFI Reframe Collection web page (http://reframecollection.org/films/film?Id=2097) and Amazon in both NTSC and PAL formats.

Screw It, I'll Play Make-Believe has played at festivals and conferences in Denmark, Sweden, Russia and Los Angeles, and has garnered critical acclaim:

"A real contribution to the documentaries on gamers and gaming culture."
Henry Jenkins, Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture

"Hip, clever and refreshing. Not your everyday documentary."
Sarah Lynne Bowman, bitchmagazine.org, Beyond Make Believe
Briana Young is a graduate of USC's prestigious School of Cinematic Arts where she earned a Master's Degree in Visual Anthropology. She has directed and produced numerous non-fiction content, from cutting-edge multi-media online platforms to short and feature-length documentaries. Some of her notable work includes Maid in LA, a peek into the often painful lives of Latina nanny-maids who live and work in middle and upper class homes; and Ladies of the Gridiron, which follows the women's professional football league as it struggles to define itself in the massive shadow of its men's counterpart.

For inquiries and interview requests, please contact:
Briana Young
[email protected]