How "Super Columbine Massacre" almost won a Special Jury Prize at Slamdance

On January 26, 2007, the Slamdance Film Festival documentary jury -- comprised of Karin Hayes, Christen McArdle and myself -- elected to award the independent video game Super Columbine Massacre RPG a Special Jury Prize for its innovative approach to documenting the Columbine school shootings. This Special Jury Prize was a unanimous jury decision, and was officially submitted to and accepted by Slamdance, but still the award did not ultimately get presented.

Some descriptions of the jury process that I have read on the Web contain significant inaccuracies, generally attributed to people who heard about the events second- or third-hand. Two of the most common incorrect descriptions are that the jury decision was based on a single "demo" of the game and that I personally "gave in" to Slamdance director Peter Baxter's last-minute arguments.

Here's the straight dope on how it went down:

1. We played the game. The documentary jury was talking seriously about Super Columbine Massacre from its first meeting, days before the awards ceremony. We downloaded the game and played it. All three members of the jury were familiar with the style of the game, how the game play worked, and the information about the massacre that the game presented.

2. We researched the controversy. On the first day I arrived at the festival, I personally talked with Slamdance director Peter Baxter, games competition director Sam Roberts and game creator Danny Ledonne about the game and the controversy surrounding it. I also read newspaper articles and commentaries on Super Columbine Massacre and presented these materials to my fellow jurors, who read them.

3. We interviewed the game's creator. In a conference call with Danny Ledonne (who had returned home by this time), all three jurors confronted him with detailed and challenging questions about the game and his motivation for creating it. Danny was direct and forthright with his answers, and defended his creation well.

4. We deliberated. While we had been talking about the possibility of honoring the game in some way all week, we engaged in a final round of serious deliberations to determine exactly what we wanted to do, if anything.

5. We decided to award a Special Jury Prize. The decision was unanimous that a Special Jury Prize for the game was appropriate. Along with our other decisions (i.e., Best Documentary and honorable mentions) we officially submitted this Special Jury Prize decision to Slamdance, which, after initial resistance, Slamdance accepted. The jury outlined an explanation of our decision that we planned to deliver on stage at the awards ceremony, when we presented all of the documentary awards.

6. At the last minute, Peter Baxter intimidated the other two jurors into reversing the decision. If the room in which the Slamdance awards ceremony occurred had had two entrances, the Special Jury Prize for Super Columbine Massacre may in fact have been announced, as the other two jurors and I entered the room fully intending to present the award when it was our turn to take the stage in a few minutes. Unfortunately, Slamdance director Peter Baxter stood guard at the only entrance to the room, intercepted us as we entered, and disgustingly browbeat the other two jurors into submission with pure rage. While he ran down a list of his usual incoherent justifications for his original decision to pull Super Columbine Massacre, his main argument was that the award would be perceived as a criticism of him, and he was personally offended. The other two jurors, both stating that they had no idea that Peter Baxter felt so strongly about the issue, reversed their votes for the Special Jury Prize. I did not.

7. I resigned from the jury. Now outvoted, 2-1, but unable to endorse the raw intimidation that I had just witnessed, I resigned from the jury on the spot. The other two jurors took the stage without me and announced the documentary awards.

And that's how Super Columbine Massacre RPG almost received the award it deserved.