Filmmakers take a peek into world of professional streakers

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MONTREAL - Quaffing pints and being inspired by streakers usually means someone ends up running around naked.

But filmmakers Dan Emery, Mathieu Wacowich and Jon Deitcher didn't whip off their clothes and head to the nearest sports stadium when they saw Jaume Marquet burst onto the field at the 2004 Euro soccer final between Portugal and Greece.

They made "Jump!," a breezy look at the world of professional streakers that has its broadcast premiere today on the Documentary channel.

"I don't know if I could bring myself to do it," Emery said with a hearty laugh when asked if he's ever streaked.

"We've looked at it from every angle, we've discussed it from every possible viewpoint. I guess the only thing left to do is whip off our clothes and get out there and try it for ourselves. Maybe you'll see us one day soon running across the screen promoting our movie."

Emery and his pals were in a Vancouver bar when they saw the TV footage of Marquet throwing the FC Barcelona flag into the face of Luis Figo, the Portuguese star player who had defected from the team a few years earlier.

"We'd never seen something like this happen on live television," recalled Emery, who is from Montreal. "We thought it was hilarious but there were other people in the bar who were booing and jeering the fact that this guy had run on during this critical moment in the game."

The juxtaposition in the reactions struck a chord with the trio and although they didn't start thinking about the possibility of a film at that very moment, it certainly planted the seed.

Eventually, the trio did a short film profiling Marquet but that led to a deeper examination of the phenomenon in "Jump!"

The filmmakers found that professional streakers -- who are also known as "jumpers" -- are a definite subculture.

"We're talking about people who are going one step beyond what the typical drunken college student might do on a $10 bet," Emery said.