In DC, film festivals turn up in the oddest places. This city hosts so many non-profits and interest organizations that you can usually find special screenings for any topic or culture, as we’ve covered in the past. For 2016, you can add gaming to that list: as part of the annual Music and Games Festival in National Harbor, Maryland, MAGFest is hosting Games on Film, a selection of 15 films and 40 shorts about games and gaming culture.
Over the four-day event, which starts tomorrow, Games on Film will screen a mix of feature films and documentaries about gaming. We’ll admit that the feature film selection seems less interesting (most are fan adaptations of popular games), but the documentaries caught our attention. Of particular interest are Thank You for Playing, about the production of a game based on a true story of childhood cancer, and The Power of Glove, a tongue-in-cheek look at the infamously poor Nintendo glove controller.
There’s also quite a few about the culture around gaming and game conventions, especially costuming Keep an eye out for Shades of Cosplay: A Black Cosplayer Documentary.
MAGFest isn’t an inexpensive event – $75 for the weekend or $45 per day – so we’re not sure we can recommend going entirely for the film lineup. But if you’re interested in gaming anyway (board games too!), you should stop in at this up-and-coming festival.