"There are few San Francisco events as divisive as SantaCon. The yearly, debauchery-filled bar crawl features hundreds, if not thousands, of costumed Santas rampaging through cities across the country, leaving a trail of inebriated chaos in their wake. But it wasn't always this way. A new film is set to premiere on Nov. 13 at the DOC NYC film festival and is simply titled "SANTACON," directed by Seth Porges, whose previous work includes "Class Action Park" and "How to Rob A Bank.""
"Long before AI-generated flyers featuring women in red lingerie advertised $20 pub crawl tickets, the event began back in 1994 as a fun-loving satire of commodification. It was organized by members of the Cacophony Society, some of the same figures who spearheaded the earliest iterations of Burning Man. Notable figures like documentarian Michael Moore and "Fight Club" author Chuck Palahniuk make cameos in the early footage, which shows Santas holding cheeky signs that read "North Pole Sovereignty Now," storming department stores and running idyllically along the beach."
A film titled "SANTACON," directed by Seth Porges, will premiere on Nov. 13 at the DOC NYC film festival. The trailer opens with violent Santas and commentary calling the event "the nightmare before Christmas," with local anchors saying residents want it canceled and on-screen text labeling SantaCon the "most hated event on the planet." The trailer then highlights San Francisco counterculture origins: a 1994 prankish satire organized by the Cacophony Society with ties to early Burning Man. Early footage features Michael Moore and Chuck Palahniuk and Santas protesting commercialization. The event later spread, became party-focused, and an unofficial site lists SantaCon events in 50 cities for 2025, with San Francisco on Dec. 13.
Read at SFGATE
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