Clad in armor and gripping LED contact sabers, members of The Saber Legion (TSL) make a compelling case that the best way to build community is through hitting each other in the face with giant, glowing sticks.
Indie Atlantic Films’s “Saber,” which premieres Feb. 14 during the 50th annual Boston Science Fiction Film Festival, invites audiences into the quirky, captivating world of competitive lightsaber dueling.
Directed by Matthew Wiatt, the documentary follows TSL members Alec Martinez and Kat Rosemond as they journey to Las Vegas for the TSL World Championships. Founded in 2015, TSL has approximately 8,000 members, with charters in 42 states and 15 countries.
“There’s a certain element that attracts people who maybe haven’t played team sports before, or people that have been marginalized in some way—they find a home here,” TSL co-founder Charley Cummings said in an interview. “One of my favorite things is when I find somebody that’s never really done anything competitive before, and that first time they win a match, you see them light up. It’s magical.”
Rosemond has competed with TSL since 2018. She arrived to her first meet with the intent to observe, not necessarily to participate, until someone approached her and said, Kat, right? You’re fighting today.
The next thing she knew, someone placed a $450 LED saber in her hand, and strangers began helping her put armor on. “I had a lot on my mind,” she recalled. “I didn’t know how hard my opponent was going to hit me, and I didn’t want to break this expensive thing in my hand. But by the end of it, once my mask was off, you couldn’t kick the smile off my face.”
Wiatt spent three years producing the film. He first discovered the Star Wars-inspired TSL on TikTok after seeing a video featuring Martinez, a TSL member who also crafts his own lightsabers. The filmmaker calls his subject a “master of all trades,” as Martinez also trains in MMA and dances in Irish jig competitions.
After sending him a direct message, Wiatt met Martinez and Rosemond in Orlando, where he watched them compete in duels.
“I didn’t go to the competition thinking, I’m going to make a documentary out of this. I just went to this event I thought was cool, and pretty much immediately I could see how strong the sense of community was,” Wiatt said. “I just remember thinking, There’s a story here.”
Wiatt said though TSL is a sport, with rules, judging, and inherent competition, the strong sense of camaraderie is what struck him: “You take the world of sports, and this idea of having a found family, and when you combine the two together, what you get is something really special and truly unique.”
In a particularly moving moment in “Saber,” Martinez describes how TSL supported him both emotionally and financially after his father passed away, assisting in covering expenses for he and his wife so that they could travel to Wisconsin for the memorial service.
“I think it’s evident through the way Matt put everything together that the real reason we’re all a part of this is just being together,” Martinez said. “I think knowing a place like this even exists is outrageously reassuring in itself, and the fact that it was important enough to Matt that he’d want to show other people really just made us feel great.”
Rosemond explained that being a part of the TSL community and being surrounded by supportive, likeminded individuals has been liberating for her, as she didn’t “come into [her] nerdiness” until adulthood. “I, for a long time, lived under the assumption that because I’m a Black woman, I have to do ‘Black things,’ I have to listen to a certain type of music, I can only participate in certain activities,” she said. “It took me a while to realize how that was making me unhappy.”
“It’s been freeing to not have to worry about what other people think because I don’t care anymore,” Rosemond continued. “I’m doing what makes me feel good.” In addition to her involvement with TSL, she is also the author of “The Life Chronicles of Hillary Watson,” a unique take on the classic Sherlock Holmes and Watson characters, a project she said Wiatt and TSL have been highly supportive of.
Cummings echoed Rosemond’s sentiment, as growing up he also felt pressure to suppress interests that were considered more ‘nerdy.’ “I feel like we’re in kind of a Golden Age for nerds right now, and it makes me happy to see people less reluctant to embrace that side of themselves.”
With regard to the documentary itself, Wiatt said he hopes that people are exposed to something they might otherwise never discover. “I also hope people walk away from the documentary knowing that they can find a community for themselves,” he said.
“It doesn’t have to be The Saber Legion, but I hope people walk away feeling like they can find a group that they can connect with. I hope people who have a hobby or interest that they’re worried about other people thinking are weird or nerdy embrace it and find a community that they can get connected with.”
