Heart of an Empire

As some people already know, I'm a member of the 501st Storm Trooper division, a group of fans who dress up as Storm Troopers, not just for fun, but for some charity work, expecially with children.

At Celebration 3, I had the pleasure of attending a panel by Jay Thomson, who's working on a documentary on the 501st, entitled Heart of an Empire. It's been in the works for the past three years, and he's had to make some incredible sacrifices to make this.

Initially intended to be a simple, 30-40 minute documentary on the legion, it took a very sudden turn last year when Katie Johnson, the daughter of the legion's founder, Albin Johnson, was strickened by an inoperatable brain tumor. The documentary is now about the 501st, but also what we do. It's about the conflicts between legion members, how we work together, how we work with the professional community and what impact that we've had on people. It's going to be very good. The crew is shooting for a 2006 Sundance release and they're hoping to finish post-production this November.

I urge everyone to go take a look at their main website and trailer, and to spread the word. The project needs all the help that it can get, and word of mouth is a great way to get other people to know about things like this.