I have been extremely impressed with the level of commitment that news askew and their readers share for the works and passions of Kevin Smith. I am constantly in awe of the lightning fast information streams that News Askew is able to gather information with. I’m writing specifically to set the record straight about a movie that my company IndieDVD is releasing titled Starwoids that I understand has been discussed for a while on News Askew.

Chris Gore of Film Threat and I had been discussing bringing Film Threat Video back to life. The first project that he had wanted to do was to release a film that he described as the best film he had seen about Star Wars fans and the micro-governments that formed out of the line-up for the Phantom Menace. I saw the film and was really impressed with the fact that by the end, you actually care about these guys doing their wacky fan stuff and feel like you know them. Chris, the filmmaker and I discussed who a quote should come from. The logical conclusion was KEVIN SMITH. Since I represented the one-degree of separation to him because of Drawing Flies (we’re working on it, I swear), I was the one who had to ask. As I braced myself to take the plunge and ask the favor we decided to shoot the moon and ask if he would also record the introductory narration for the film and be interviewed about Star Wars. He agreed (without a bribe or anything, providing we send a copy of the film to him first) and we recorded the six lines of introductory narration (with his own spin), and interviewed him about Star Wars all in his hotel room during the San Diego Comic-con. The whole makeshift recording session lasted for a few hours and we let them get back to normalcy. I can’t begin to tell you how thankful we were and continue to be, I’m glad that he not only shot into independent film fame but that he continues to reach out to fellow struggling artists and lend what he can. To date there still isn’t a patron saint for independent film…you never know.

Kevin’s contributions add the perfect touch to the film. Brandon, the DVD author, tells me that the interview is “incredible” in his opinion, and that he would feel like the film is worth seeing for the interview alone. We are releasing the film on October 16, at the same time that Phantom Menace is released on DVD, (this is either really wise or really foolish because Starwoids may be eclipsed by Star Wars itself, depending on how many pennies have been saved up by the fans). I assume that some of you will see the film, so I hope that you enjoy the film as much as we have and I look forward to hearing what you have to say about it.

Jonah E.R. Loeb
President, IndieDVD