Black Angel (found short fantasy film; 1979)
Black Angel’s title screen, as taken from the restored film's 2014 iTunes release.
Status: Found
Date found: 19 May 2014
Found by: Universal Studios, Roger Christian
Premiering exclusively in Australian and European cinemas in 1980, prior to screenings of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, was a short fantasy film titled Black Angel; it was written and directed by Roger Christian (in his directorial debut) and was financed by George Lucas (on a budget of £25,000) as a gift to Christian for his work on 1977's Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, for which he served as set decorator.
Shot in Scotland in autumn of 1979, the 25 minute film sees Sir Maddox, a knight returning from the Crusades, arriving home only to find that his village has been both raided and destroyed and its population devastated by the outbreak of an unknown illness referred to only as 'the sickness'; Maddox vows revenge against the raiders and sets out to find them. After later slipping on a muddy riverbank, he is plunged into a lake, where he nearly drowns, but is fortunately awoken by the voice of a mysterious girl, who he then encounters after emerging; she reveals that she is being held captive by the so-called 'Black Angel', a black knight who Maddox then endeavours to conquer in return for the girl having saved his life.
In the decades following the film's very limited theatrical release, it gained notoriety amongst Star Wars fans as a lost film, with not even Christian himself being able to secure a workable copy for clean-up and re-release (Chrsitian having previously expressed a desire to undertake said re-release), until December of 2011, when an archivist from Universal Studios contacted Christian after having come across a tin of film containing the elusive movie. In the years following, a handful of interview articles were conducted with Christian, in which he revealed the discovery and reaffirmed his intentions to restore and make the film available once again, more than 30 years after it's initial release. After reading one of the aforementioned interview articles, Californian visual effects company Athena Studios volunteered to completely restore the film free of charge. Said restoration soon commenced, in conjunction with the Bay Area Visual Effects Society and Skywalker Sound and the film was finally shown once again on October 13th, 2012, at the 36th Mill Valley Film Festival, where it was well received.
UPDATE 14 Sep: For the first time in over 33 years, Black Angel is finally being publicly screened again - on October 13th at the 36th Mill Valley Film Festival![1] Despite reports to the contrary, it has been officially confirmed that the restoration was actually done by Athena Studios, not PIXAR. The below title screenshot was released for the event, and is the public's first glimpse at the digitally restored version of the legendary short film.
Released title screen image from Athena Studio's digital restoration.
UPDATE 28 Oct: Following the screening of Black Angel at the Mill Valley Film Festival, Athena Studios have recently released two short clips from the film, giving fans a tantalising glimpse into the notoriously rare featurette.
References
- ↑ Mill Valley Film Festival page on the short. Retrieved 14 Sep '13.