"Saving Star Wars", shot last summer in Indianapolis, has become an Official Selection for The 4th London International Festival of Science Fiction and Fantasic Film. "I'm thrilled," said writer/director Gary Wood. "Up to this point, we've mainly gotten attention and acclaim as a 'fan film'." The comedy recently won the audience vote for Best Fan Film at the 2004 GenCon, a national gaming convention. Wood explained, "But while we've never really fought that description, we've always known that the movie stands on its own as a legitimate movie with its own story and characters. The 'Star Wars' movies are only used as a device to tell the story of how far a father will go to honor his son. The selection to the London festival is a nice validation."

Made for only about $50,000, "Saving Star Wars" may not have the slick polish the larger-budgeted films normally exhibited at the festival have, but Festival Director LouisSavy said the little movie's quality can not be denied, "It has one of the wittiest scripts and most endearing characters I have seen in a long time. The production quality may be less than 100 percent. But the content is 110. I've watched it twice and I loved it. I welcome the opportunity to screen it.

The festival runs from February 2-6 next year. Dave Prowse, who appears in the movie as a version of himself and has starred in such films as "Star Wars" and "Clockwork Orange", will be present to introduce the movie to the London audience. Though it has played to approving crowds in Indianapolis, Chicago, Louisville, St. Louis, Boston, Baltimore, Chattanooga, Lansing, and Chesapeake, Virginia, this will be the movie's European premiere.

In the meantime, "Saving Star Wars" will continue to show around the country with upcoming shows in Tampa, Covington, KY, Orlando, and more before returning home to Indianapolis for the weekend of April 21-24 when it will be showing at the Indians State Museum to help announce the arrival of the "Star Wars Celebration III" to Indy.

"Saving Star Wars" is currently available on DVD at www.savingstarwars.com and the screenplay is soon to be published, with an introduction by Dave Prowse, by Cache River Press.