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Logline

When a group teenage outsiders find paintball and come together as a team in the late ‘90s, it sends shock waves through their sport, forever changing both the game and themselves.

Synopsis

In all of sports, there is arguably no greater “dynasty” than Dynasty. No team has won more championships. No team has had a greater impact on how the game is played on the field, or how the business of the sport is conducted off the field. No other team has been home to so many legendary players.

But before there was Dynasty, there was the Iron Kids, an amateur “kids” team that sent shock waves through the tournament paintball scene.

And though they competed under the name for just a single year, the “Iron Kids” came to represent something much more: It became a lifelong bond of friendship, as well as an impossible dream: of staying young, staying together, and becoming the best in the world.

How a handful of kids turned their dream into reality is the greatest story in all of paintball. Now, for the very first time, that story is being told in full through a feature-length documentary.
 

Meet the Filmmakers

Dan Napoli — Director/Co-Writer/Executive Producer
Dan Napoli is an award-winning writer, producer, director and editor with over 20 years of experience in video production and action sports. He has directed nearly two dozen documentaries. He’s covered Dynasty and members of the Iron Kids since entering paintball in 1999, allowing him to take the subjects to intimate and honest places few directors could. His most recent film involving Dynasty, Fifteen, has amassed a half-million views on YouTube.

Dan’s last two films received major streaming distribution. 50 Summers: A Documentary About Minor League Baseball (narrated by Rob Riggle), is currently streaming on Peacock, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV. Best Kids In Texas, currently streaming on Amazon Prime and Apple TV, was the first documentary paintball film to be distributed by a major streaming service.

Brad Maughan — Co-Writer/Producer
Brad Maughan is currently a VFX artist. He’s done work for Lumen Pictures, as well as televisions shows like Bel Air, and The Sex Life of College Girls. He’s worked on dozen of films over the last four years, including a number of Marvel Cinematic universe films. He also happens to be a multiple-time world champion paintball player with Dynasty.

Brad began documenting the Iron Kids and Mare Island paintball scene in the mid-1990s. He’s made his extensive archive of unseen footage available to the production, providing viewers with an unprecedented and intimate view into the lives of the Iron Kids.

Christopher Hass — Co-Writer/Producer
Christopher Hass has more than 20 years of experience as a writer and journalist. He was editor and publisher of the legendary paintball magazine P8NT, which chronicled both the Iron Kids and the rise of Dynasty in real time. In 2019, he led the production of F8MOUS, the definitive book on the birth of professional paintball.

Sami Ansari — Director of Cinematography
Sami Ansari is a cinematographer with nearly 25 years of experience shooting sports and music, ranging from Jennifer Lopez to Korn. He’s filmed on a number of diverse projects, from Deadliest Catch to the Dave Grohl documentary Sound City.

Christopher Dilts — Director of Still Photography
Chris Dilts is a documentary photographer and freelance photojournal-ist. He was photo editor of the paintball magazine P8NT, and has photo-graphed professional paintball for more than 20 years. His vast archive of photos are used extensively throughout the film. Chris also served as a camera assistant and second camera operator on the entire shoot.

His work has been in featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, New York Magazine, Time Magazine, USA Today, Bloomberg Business Week, Mother Jones, MSNBC, NBC, Getty Images, and Oakley Australia, among many others.

Make a donation to We Could Be A Dynasty: the Story of the Iron Kids.

Contact

For inquiries, please contact fiscalsponsorship@filmindependent.org.