Kayfabe is the unsaid rule that luchadores should stay in character both inside the ring and out.  In the context of theater, it encourages the suspension of disbelief but also goes a step further by carrying the story off the stage and into the lives of the spectators.  Kayfabe is to make Peter Pan real, giving life to the notion that things can be imagined into existence.  It reminds us that those things we dream are not that far out of reach and refreshes our faith in the collective fairy tale where good triumphs over evil and struggle is always rewarded.

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Went to a lucha libre match this past weekend.  A few days prior to going, a friend of mine introduced me to filmmakers Kim Shively and Chris Bagely, two people whose work I have been following over the last couple of years. The trailers for Wesley Willis’s Joyrides, their recently released full-length documentary on the late, great rock ‘n roller, started popping up on the internet last year coinciding with the film’s tour through the festival circuit. The duo’s DIY approach to filmmaking and niche interest in the strange, beautiful, and raw subculture is something that I have always found inspiring.

Their latest project focuses on lucha libre and looks to be a promising follow-up to the Willis work. So when they offered tickets to join them at a lucha match they were filming over the weekend, I couldn’t say no.  And I couldn’t put my camera down, either.