THE BLOOD CRYSTAL: A STAR WARS FAN FILM, 32min., USA
Directed by Dark Hoffman
Two young JEDI, Daptain Drovat and his Padawan, were secrectly sent by the Rebellion to find the Blood Crystal, rumored to have infinite powers. A young Sith races to an abandoned Imperial Kyber mining base on the moons of Orsicca in order to procure the crystal fo the Empire. Following orders from the Rebellion and the Empire, both Sith and Jedi have found themselves on the same moon, fighting to find the Blood Crystal...

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?
I was just diagnosed with stage 4 head and neck cancer in 2015 when the idea came to me. I am a big Star Wars fan and was just writing a story when a screenwriter said I should make it into a short film. So I wrote the script and we started casting. And this is all when we were living in Los Angeles. After my 2 surgeries, we decided to move to Michigan to take care of mom and also chose to film this here. We had most of the locations and actors locked in in LA but we found a great independent film crew and a great cast and just decided to film it here in Michigan.

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
I would say about 2 1/2 years from my surgeries when I started writing, to us moving back East and getting settled before we started pre production.

3. How would you describe your film in two words!?
Action adventure

4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
Time is always a hurdle to get over. Money is another one for such an ambitious project. Luckily we found a builder that makes droids in the area and he had an R2 D2 until that he let us paint red instead of blue so that helped a lot! Also finding the right location that didn't cost anything. We found an old sand quarry we were able to use for free. Our biggest challenge was to build a full scale A-Wing fighter ship.

5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?
I was amazed at the reactions and critique on the film and loved it all! We never really had that kind of reaction from just YouTube so we are very happy!

6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?
I was a film lover at a very early age and my first big film was 2001 and from there I had to either make films or get behind the scenes to learn how they are made. I started working in professional films when I was 17 and through my career I was doing everything from explosions to rain and snow, miniatures, props, digital work such as matte painting and concept art, visual effects both practical and digital.

7. What film have you seen the most in your life?
Not a very fair question since I have so many I re-watch over and over but it's either Alien or Star Wars

8. What other elements of the festival experience can we and other festivals implement to satisfy you and help you further your filmmaking career?
Not sure how to answer that. I think more fan film festivals would help.

9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experiences been working on the festival platform site?
I have no complaints with the site and it's fairly easy to use. I have submitted 2 films and we are just finishing up our first feature which will be entered on there as well.

10. What is your favorite meal?
Sushi

11. What is next for you? A new film?
Yes, I am just finishing up editing and sound on our new horror feature film, "Dominus", based on The Exorcist and Legion that we shot this year. I am also writing new original scripts and stories that I hope we will film in the new year.