None of us have ever been to a convention before, or we just weren't willing to admit it to the others. But we're giddy and open-mouthed, because it's kind of hilarious: there's a lot of people in costume, especially storm troopers, and that type of specialized conversation that's embarrassing to overhear. We're relishing it, because a few years ago there might have been some question about where we stood on the blurry line between nerdy-cool and nerdy-embarrassing, but now we were clearly on the right side of it. The side where our obsessions seem slightly eccentric and endearing.

FanzillaCon is the only convention in the country that focuses entirely on fan movies; movies that extend the worlds created by Star Wars and the Lord of the Rings and the Matrix and anything else equally all-consuming for its fans. It's a three day celebration of the art of fantasy escapism, a convention to celebrate conventions, and its centerpiece is the Raiders remake. In 1982 a group of twelve-year-old kids from Mississippi started making a shot-for-shot remake of "Raiders of the Lost Ark", and spent every summer for the next six years working on it. Since then it's become somewhat of a cult hit with everyone on that blurry line, from the 80s nostalgic indie kids to the hopelessly committed George Lucas fans.

Before the movie they play some short films in the Star Wars genre, and they're filled with all the jokes about conventions and the Star Wars universe that make such things so painful in the first place. People laugh and clap, we just roll our eyes: this is why they are on the wrong side of the line. Then they play Raiders and the difference is immense. It's not that it's technically better, though the special effects are amazing for a group of kids. They just inhabit the world more completely, totally. They approach the characters with a kind of belief that only a child could have: that if they love the world enough, if they know their characters completely, they can do their favorite film justice, and they do. We all love it.

Raiders does more than unite the crowd. It destroys the line. I'm cheering as loud and as hard as the storm trooper next to me. My snide distance is gone, and I see that the transformation the actors make in the film is the same as my own. When they make these movies they can forget who they are and whatever it is they don't like about their lives. They get to be different people living fantastic lives in a fantastic world, a desire that's the same at its core as the desire to be rich or famous or someone different than yourself: someone less nerdy, less awkward, more comfortable around people. The only difference is that they project it for an audience to see. And we watch it and understand, and when it's over we all applaud.