‘Black Angel’ Short Film Found After Nearly Three Decades

Black Angel, the long lost short film from Star Wars art director Roger Christian, has recently been unearthed after vanishing nearly 30 years ago.

The 25-minute cinematic fantasy originally screened before The Empire Strikes Back in Europe and Australia when it hit theaters in 1980. Following its theatrical run, Black Angel faded into obscurity. Its existence reportedly became the frequent topic of debate on Star Wars websites.

Now that the short film has been found, director Roger Christian hopes to release the film at some point in the near future.

He recently explained possible distribution options with the folks at Wired:

“Probably the best way is a downloadable version. I think it would be great to see it in a cinema again on a program with ‘Empire Strikes Back.’ That’s how it was intended to be seen.”

Black Angel tells the story of a knight from the Crusades who finds himself transported to a magical world where a princess is behind held captive by an dastardly villain. Only he can rescue the damsel in distress from the clutches of his adversary.

According to Bleeding Cool, director John Boorman’s Excalibur was heavily influenced by the look and feel of the missing short film.

Sadly, Black Angel was never released on home video. In fact, Christian spent years trying to locate a negative of his short fantasy. His search came to an end when he recently got a call from an archivist at Universal’s vaults.

As of this writing, it’s unknown when the director’s lost fantasy flick will find its way into the hands of those who remember seeing it in theaters.

Christian went on to helm a number of projects, including the obscure 1984 science fiction flick Starship and the John Travolta debacle Battlefield Earth.

Do you remember seeing Black Angel when it played in theaters with The Empire Strikes Back? Are you looking forward to the short film’s release?