We Can Be Heroes

Sometimes finding your people requires a bit of magic. For attendees of a live-action role-playing (LARP) camp in upstate New York, the deeply accepting environment has given neurodivergent, queer and self-proclaimed “nerdy” teenagers the space and community for self-discovery that they have never found anywhere else. As the campers immerse themselves in this imaginative world, they discover inner strength, heal from past traumas and emerge as the heroes they are meant to be, both in fantasy and in real life. We Can Be Heroes perfectly captures and celebrates the small, fleeting, but profoundly formative moments that make up the most intense years of adolescence, with a little help from foam swords.