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'Mudbloods,' a documentary about college Quidditch, will be released this fall

The documentary will center on the UCLA Quidditch team and its path to the championships.

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Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP
Silicon Valley Skrewts' Logan Anbinder (center) drives to the goal between the University of Ottawa Quidditch team's Matthew Bunn (r.) and Ahmed Al-Slaq (l.) during a scrimmage at the Quidditch World Cup in Kissimmee, Fla. in 2013.
  • By Molly Driscoll Staff Writer

For the past several years, the sport of Quidditch – also known as Muggle Quidditch – has been gaining popularity, with “Harry Potter” fans using the descriptions of the wizarding game in J.K. Rowling’s novels to create their own non-magical version.

And now the story of one college Quidditch team is coming to the big screen.

The documentary “Mudbloods,” directed by Farzard Sangari, follows the UCLA Quidditch team, described as “underdogs” by Deadline, which makes it all the way to the Quidditch World Cup in New York. According to Deadline, the movie will be released theatrically and on demand in October.

“Mudbloods gives audiences a glimpse into a growing collegiate sport that was inspired by the preeminent cultural touchstone of our generation…Harry Potter,” Amanda Lebow, director of film strategy for BOND/360, which is distributing the film, said in a statement. 

In the “Harry Potter” world, “Mudbloods” is a derogatory term for those who have magical powers but are born to Muggle, or non-magical, parents.

The first World Cup for college teams was held in 2007. According to the International Quidditch Association, a nonprofit organization that oversees the sport, the game was first adapted for a non-magical world in 2005 at Middlebury College in Vermont. More than 300 universities and high schools all over the world have teams today, according to the IQA.

In Harry's world, the game is played on flying broomsticks and players must throw a red Quaffle through goalposts to score points while one player searches for a magical ball called the Golden Snitch which can elude pursuit. For Muggle Quidditch, players are earthbound but must still run while holding broomsticks between their legs. A player dressed in yellow acts as the Snitch and runs away from those trying to catch it.

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