The Astoria premiere of the new doc about championship Donkey Kong players “The King of Kong” included a new triumph for the film’s protag Steve Wiebe. During the Q&A following the screening on Saturday, helmer Seth Gordon produced a copy of the newly-published 2008 Guinness Book of World Records and asked Wiebe to read aloud the entry containing his name. “I didn’t know what I was getting involved with, for sure,” said Wiebe of his quest to break the world record score for Donkey Kong.
At the after-party, audience members went up to the second level of the Museum of the Moving Image to eat canapés, drink beer and play the two vintage Donkey Kong machines provided by the museum. Few players got past the game’s first board, but Wiebe, at the behest of friends and fans, demonstrated his skills for enthralled onlookers. Gordon said of the film’s showdown at legendary arcade Fun Spot in Hollywood, Florida, “When I saw that this film could take us to Fun Spot for work at age thirty, I thought, “This is too good to be true.’” (S. Thielman)
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