Our own Bonnie Burton sat down and chatted for a few minutes with Jeff Capone, the creator of the fan film Star Sports which won "Best Parody" in the Fan Movie Challenge at SDCC last month.

See a portion of the interview below:

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

A: George Lucas? vision demonstrated, for me, the power of imagination above all else. Films like American Graffiti and Star Wars tapped in to what younger generations were really feeling and experiencing, then and now. They captured the wonder and the potential for adventure inherent in every apparently ?ordinary? life.

Lucas? filmmaking process also proved that groundbreaking and lasting movie experiences like these can also be created with limited resources. Books and documentaries about the making of Star Wars and his other movies instilled me with a mindset for innovation from the moment first I got my hands on a 16mm Bolex camera, to the present with my supercharged MacBook Pro.

His ongoing commitment to technological innovation at the professional level has resulted in the creation of tools I and my students use to make our movies today. His endorsement of fan films and their creators has paved the way for now-classic projects like Troops, Pink Five, and Ryan Vs. Dorkman. These pioneers of fan filmdom showed that amateur filmmakers could also make effective and entertaining movies with a great idea and a minimal budget.

With Lucas? support, fan films have emerged to find larger audiences and a renewed sense of value and legitimacy. It?s become a respectable art form that takes creators who are typically found in the ?outer rim territories? of the filmmaking world and suddenly thrusts them into the galactic core of the Star Wars magic. All of these factors were monumental in motivating us to develop our own brand of Star Wars fan film."


Click here for the full interview posted at the Official Star Wars Blog site.

And head on over to Atom.com to check out the trailer!