The documentary Heart Of Neon tells the story of pioneering videogame designer Jeff Minter. A new Kickstarter campaign has launched to fund its Blu-ray release.
Directed by Paul Docherty, the feature-length documentary Heart Of Neon tells the story of a key figure in the British games industry. Jeff Minter began making games in the early 1980s; but where once mighty software houses have fallen and game designers have moved to other industries, Minter has kept going.
In the 21st century, he’s still making his own brand of psychedelic shoot-’em-ups – titles like Tempest 4000, Polybius and Akka Arrh are as recognisably his as Attack Of The Mutant Camels and Gridrunner were in the 1980s. (It’s perhaps telling that, in Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror episode dedicated to the 1980s games industry, Bandersnatch, Minter was given a cameo role. Among gamers of a certain age, he’s still something of a cult celebrity.)
In 2017, Docherty travelled from his base in Brooklyn to Minter’s farm in rural Wales to meet him for the first time. Through Minter, Docherty wanted to tell the story of the British games industry from Minter’s unique perspective, the documentary taking in interviews with Minter himself, his partner Ivan ‘Giles’ Zorin, as well as contributions from those who’ve worked with him in the past.
A former games industry veteran himself, Docherty later moved into filmmaking; he was editor on Frank Pavitch’s superb Jodorowsky’s Dune, and previously worked with filmmaker Ken Burns on his expansive documentary series, The War. Heart Of Neon has clearly been a labour of love for Docherty, who sees his film as a chance to bring Minter’s story to a wider audience, as well as existing fans of his games.
“I want more people in the world who aren’t gamers [to know about Jeff Minter],” Docherty told us earlier this month. “He never built a brand, he was the brand, but in the nicest possible way. Jeff doesn’t represent anybody but himself, but he tells a larger story about the creative impulse. He shines a light on how others can maybe do it successfully, not by doing exactly the same things he did, but by having the same approach. By not really caring about the market. By really listening to your audience.”
The Heart Of Neon campaign has just gone live on Kickstarter, and has already amassed almost £7,000 at the time of writing; its minimum goal is a modest £12,000. A pledge of $37 (roughly £28) will secure you an early bird copy of the documentary on Blu-ray (with your name in the end credits), while $21 (£16) will get you a digital download.
There are other rewards for backers, too, including T-shirts and postcards. The campaign runs until 21st June, so there’s still plenty of time to support what sounds like a fascinating documentary.
