Words: Bonnie Burton

As the winner for the Best Comedy Award presented by Lucasfilm and Atom at this year’s Star Wars Fan Movie Challenge at San Diego Comic-Con International, Family Dysfunction shows the story of Darth Vader’s illegitimate son who idolizes him as a child, hates him as a teen and thinks he’s an old, washed-up Sith Lord as he enters his twenties.

Starwars.com chats with Arizona-based filmmaker Rich Scheirmann about his fan movie.

What is your background in film?

I made my first film at the age of eight or nine. It was an 8mm stop-animation short staring Star Wars action figures. Since then, my love of film and video has matured. In college, I received three degrees all in the cinema realm. Performance wise, I’ve done everything from stand-up comedy to stage performances and television hosting. Over the years, I’ve participated or created well over a hundred videos.

What prompted you to make a Star Wars fan film? Have you made a fan film before?

I remember being a kid and watching a documentary on Star Wars. The one thing that has stuck with me over all the years was Mr. Lucas’ tenacity. Over the last few decades, his aversion to complacency has brought about the largest technical advancements in film. Where would we be without THX, ILM and Lucasfilm’s digital evolution? I know I’d still be making 8mm stop animation flicks.

Where did you get your idea for your film?

The Skywalker family is the poster child for dysfunction. My original idea was a mock reality show that would explore the inadequacies of the Vader clan. I wanted it to be The Osbournes in space — only with lightsabers. This was a test run.

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Words: Bonnie Burton

As the winner for the Spirit of Fandom Award presented by Lucasfilm and Atom at this year’s Star Wars Fan Movie Challenge at San Diego Comic-Con International, Star Wars: Cinemagic takes a look at the Star Wars saga as an exciting ride through cinematic history.

Starwars.com chats with Texas-based filmmaker Joseph T. Presswood III.

What is your background in film? Did you make films as a youngster/teen?

I started back into film about six years ago, I had wanted to study film in college but the cost of getting a degree and the chances of getting a job didn’t balance out in my mind. I ended up getting my degree in Advertising from Texas State. Later, I would take film classes at night at Houston Community College (HCC). As a child I played a lot with the camera. One of the first videos my parents have is of me opening one of my gifts and getting excited when I see it’s a plastic film camera. I looked at Dad and said, “Santa gave me a movie ejector!”

What prompted you to make a Star Wars fan film? Have you made a fan film before?

I made Star Wars: Cinemagic three years ago for the 2007 Fan Movie Challenge but missed the deadline that year. The idea was to have something for the 30th anniversary of A New Hope. I thought it was a cool idea to do a short film that takes the audience on a trip through memory lane of the Star Wars universe.

I made a short called Pinball Wars back in 2004. The main difference is back then I didn’t make the short for the competition. I did Pinball Wars after I tried to make a film based on a George Carlin monologue for our class final at HCC. I spent a lot of time on that script and it didn’t work. The camera operator and lighting technician didn’t show and it was a disaster. So not to be embarrassed, I grabbed my brother and my dad’s camera and started filming Dave playing a pinball machine. I was watching a lot of Twilight Zone at the time and thought the man vs. machine angle on a Star Wars pinball machine was cool. My teacher liked it and told me about the competition. Was an amazing experience and I met a lot of talented directors at Comic-Con that year. Had a wonderful time!

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Words: Bonnie Burton

As the winner for the Best Animated Movie presented by Lucasfilm and Atom at this year’s Star Wars Fan Movie Challenge at San Diego Comic-Con International, Star Wars in a Notebook captured the imagination of what Star Wars would look like recreated with paper cut-outs in a notebook.

Starwars.com chats with Columbia-based filmmaker Oscar Fabián Triana Méndez.

What is your background in film? Did you make films as a youngster/teen?

I studied Graphic Design on the National University of Colombia, and last year I finished the new specialization in animation program at the same college. My first animated short-film, UnoCero (One-Zero) was made on 2003 while I was studying. It’s an animated film about a student who must choose his studies or the last minutes of a historic soccer game — our national team against Germany in the Italia ‘90 World Cup.

Later, I was working for several years “pioneering” video game development here, and from the last year, I just came back to the storytelling and narrative side of animation. On the specialization program, I made a couple of short films and experiments, from stop-motion to rotoscopy, and a main project called ImaGeForce. It’s not finished yet but it touches a lot of points that I developed later in Star Wars in a Notebook like kids, memories and spaceships.

What prompted you to make a Star Wars fan film? How have George Lucas and his films influenced your work?

I have been following the fan films and the Atom site for a really long time — way back to high school. For years I wanted to enter the Fan Movie Challenge but I never had enough time to make a film until this year. I have always loved all things about heroes, robots, outer space, as any kid, and years later in college. Star Wars was, and is, the obligated reference as a key piece on the audiovisual medium.

My first contact with the films was halfway through middle school, a couple of years before Episode I. When I saw the original movies on VHS, and the new one in the cinema, I was blown way! I even made a pod racer model for a physics class. It was the time when I was thinking, “Hmm, what I’m going to do? What career fits best for me?” Watching the “making of” TV specials, and interviews with the artists behind the movies I said, as many people have been doing on the last 30 years, “This is something that I want to do; create amazing worlds, characters and adventures!”

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Words: Bonnie Burton

As the winner for the George Lucas Selects Award in the Fan Movie Challenge presented by Lucasfilm and Atom at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con International, Star Wars: Retold shows what can happen when someone who thinks they remember all the little plot points of Star Wars attempted to retell it, with hilarious results.

Starwars.com chats with Texas-based filmmaker Joe Nicolosi Jr.

What is your background in film?