Santacon documentary reveals true origin of the worlds most hated holiday and how NYC was its last true hoorah

They’re rebels without a Claus.The founders of SantaCon are forced to reckon with the boozy global sensation they unintentionally created three decades ago in a new documentary — which reveals the Big Apple might have been the major turning point in its story.“SANTACON” — premiering Thursday at DOC NYC — explores the little-known history of how an absurdist art performance morphed into the drunken day of debauchery punctuated with arrests, sickness and disturbing public acts that is feared around the world today.“It’s a story about bigger ideas.It was a story about change, about moving on, about passing the torch to a new generation and coming to terms with a new reality that might be different from the one you’re used to,” explained director Seth Porges, the genius behind the 2020 film Class Action Park.“SANTACON” utilizes hours and hours of home video from the early days of the Santa Claus-trophobic event, which its founders initially called “Santarchy.”The red and white takeover first hit San Francisco in 1994 as the brainchild of the Cacophony Society — an anarchist group that created Burning Man and inspired “Fight Club.”But the idea by founders Rob Schmitt, John Law and Chris Radcliffe was very different from the drunken mess we know today.

Their version saw hundreds of individuals dressed as Santa Claus frolicking through the city, storming into restaurants and taking over malls for the thrill of it.While some substance abuse may have been present, it wasn’t the goal.“You see somebody wake up from this zombie-like thing into ‘Holy s–t.There’s something going on around here that I can’t account for.’ It created a sense of wonder,” Radcliffe explained in the film in an interview that preceded his death to cancer last year.

There was certainly another goal lurking underneath the performative art piece: to be silly and stupid.“Random absurdism was the point.But within that random absurdism, we all can put our...