Last month we shared the short film Black Angel, which was made by Star Wars and Alien Academy Award winner and nominee Roger Christian. The short was chosen by George Lucas to play before his sequel The Empire Strikes Back, and then was lost for three decades before resurfacing recently and being restored.

When the short was shared Christian mentioned an exciting announcement coming at the start of this month, and, as expected, that announcement is that he wants to make a feature-length version of Black Angel. And to do so, he’s turning to crowdfunding for fan support. He even already has some cast in place, which includes the great John Rhys-Davies and Rutger Hauer.

You can read more about the project and see a video of Christian talking about the project below.

Here’s the story of Black Angel and what the feature-length version is about and inspired by:

35 years ago, Star Wars Set Designer Roger Christian came to George Lucas with a script called Black Angel. Lucas commissioned it on the spot.

That 25 minute short, made with a tiny budget and an even smaller crew, played in front of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back screenings in England, Scotland and Australia. It went on to inspire a host of fantasy cinema classics, from Star Wars itself to John Boorman’s Excalibur. And then it was lost.

Having been found after 35 years, and released on YouTube to a fantastic reception, we’re bringing Black Angel back as a feature film.

Think Game of Thrones meets Valhalla Rising, Excalibur meets Lord of the Rings. A powerful tale of ancient Celtic magic and Nordic Paganism, it’ll be gritty, dirty and heroic – everything great fantasy should be.

The story follows a knight as he journeys deep into the dark underworld with the daughter of a rival king, to meet the face of evil itself and fight the Black Angel in combat. Full of drama, action and heroism, pure light is pitted against eternal darkness and damnation.

In making this film, we want to return to the visceral physical action of classic fantasy films, like Conan the Barbarian and the original Star Wars. We will mainly rely on practical effects to bring the world of Black Angel to life, with CGI integrated into the film only when absolutely required.

With the success of the fantasy genre recently, we know now the time is right to bring back Black Angel. Together we can make this happen. Together we can turn Black Angel into the epic fantasy film it was always meant to be.

The project’s goal is a modest $100,000, and they’ve already raised over $85,000 as of the writing of this post with 43 days remaining (and from only 343 people, believe it or not), so it looks like the movie is well on its way to surpassing its goal by a whole lot.

If interested in Black Angel and what rewards are available for contributing to the crowdfunding campaign, you can find all info at its Indiegogo campaign page.

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