Star Wars fans have always been creative and if you are even half-heartedly following fan-made projects, you must have seen numerous fan-films being made throughout the years.
The only disadvantage of many fan-films is that they tend to go according to the same scheme: a Jedi (or a group of them) going on a mission stumbles upon a Sith (or several of them), a fight breaks out, then one side wins and that’s it. Sure, if there is anything iconic about Star Wars, it is lightsaber combat, and low budget and the technology average fans possess do not usually allow for long, elaborate plotlines. That’s why it is always refreshing to see creators who attempt something different.
A couple of days ago, a group of enthusiastic fans started a campaign on Kickstarter to fund their new project, named Star Wars: Elimination. It is a fan-film in its truest form: not pretending to aspire for canonicity, but rather offering a trip to the world of “what if…” According to the makers, the story “depicts the downfall of the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker through the perspective lens of his ex-girlfriend, Aerith Laverne-Solo. The story explores Anakin’s discovery of the fact that he still has feelings for Aerith, and his struggle to balance those feelings and save his wife, Padmé, from dying of childbirth.”
Certainly a very unusual take on the story, and I must confess, on first sight, I wasn’t very convinced. But fan-films do not aspire to be canon, and after watching the trailer (obviously filmed in placeholder set), I changed my opinion. The dialogue seems promising, indicating a good script behind the film. The actors’ performance is also very good compared to the generic level you would expect from a basic fan-film, and most importantly, the characters (Anakin, Obi-Wan…) resemble their original versions from the actual movies. And that isn’t a mean feat.
The filmmaking team’s goal is quite ambitious, but as far as fan-films go, I believe Star Wars: Elimination could actually be fairly interesting if it happened. I don’t expect a blockbuster, but it might make for a well-written and well-acted drama. If it comes to fruition.
For this reason, I have decided to bring your attention to this project, because… well. If young talents need support, they should have it. The author’s plan is to enter the film into the official Star Wars Fan Film Awards competition, which brought us last year the breathtaking TK-436: A Stormtrooper Story. So, who knows, maybe we have the chance to see the beginning of a new famous project.
You can read about the film on its kickstarter page, follow its development on Facebook and support it until 3rd March 2017.
May The Force Be With all the enthusiastic filmmakers!
https://ksr-video.imgix.net/projects/2810817/video-745031-h264_high.mp4
