NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Dailymotion today announced that “Born of Hope,” a professionally-produced feature-length film based on the Tolkien Trilogy, Lord of the Rings, will be screened on the popular global video entertainment site beginning December 1, 2009. This exclusive follows the high successful launch of another Lord of the Rings fan film, The Hunt for Gollum, in May of 2009.
“Born of Hope” tells a Tolkien-inspired original prequel story with a host of characters never before seen on screen. The 70 minute prequel is the story of Aragorn’s parents, Arathorn and Gilraen, along with the characters who sacrificed everything to keep Aragorn safe. More..
Chapter Cinema, Cardiff is proud to present a special FREE screening of the Lord of the Rings fan film, The Hunt For Gollum on Saturday 24th October at 6pm, together with woods shocker, Blair Thumb. To claim your free ticket call in to Chapter, Market Road, Canton, Cardiff, CF5 1QE, or ring 02920 311050. Fancy dress is encouraged with a prize for the best Lord of the Rings costume.
TA Widman sends this in: I don’t know if anybody over at TORN knows about this yet, but another fan film is being produced to be premiered at Ring*Con 2009 and then streamed online, like Hunt for Gollum. “Born of Hope” is set before the War of the Ring, focusing on the story of Arathorn and Gilraen as well as the birth and childhood of Aragorn. It is a 60 minute film, being produced in the UK. On their site, they’ve posted a teaser trailer, and many stills. www.bornofhope.com
‘Halifirien’ Director Tom Robinson dropped me a line to tell me about his fan film. From the official site: Halifirien is a 30-minute independent film inspired by Lord of the Rings, made entirely by a group of teenage volunteers with a micro-budget of just a few hundred euro. The film was released for free viewing online on September 8, 2009. halifirienthemovie.com
Jay writes: My name is Jay and I’m a designer and managing partner of a marketing agency in Newcastle in the North of England. I’ve been a Tolkien fan since my teens and have been collecting his books since college. These illustrations are a personal love and hobby and have never been seen before either in print or on the net. The concept for the style came from Tolkien himself. My understanding is he tried to convince people that The Hobbit was originally a translated manuscript such as Beowulf. More..
Daniel writes: Patrick Acton, the Matchstick Man of Gladbrook, Iowa has posted 5 new photos of his matchstick model of Minas Tirith on his website! He has made a lot of progress and the model is looking AWESOME! The photos show the progress made during the month of April. See the photos at the following link!
Peter H from Germany writes: My friends and I have a model project with 50 000 Orcs from 20mm to 28mm and we will be showing it at the RPC (Role Play Convention) in Cologne from 2-5.04.09. The Project took 3 years to create, it is the scene “Gandalf looks over the Walls of Minas Tirith into the mass of Orkc”. We spray and painted over 50000 figures for the project and build the walls 7 meters long. And on the Wall we have LOTR figures for Minas Tirith and from Morthond, Pelagir, Ringlo and most of them built from scratch for the scene. Now we plan to build the section of the gate.
Fans of the Lord of the Rings who have not yet had their fill of cinematic Middle-earth should make a date for Sunday 3 May at 4pm (UK time), when the internet and the Sci-Fi-London festival will simultaneously host the premiere of The Hunt for Gollum – a “film for fans by fans” knocked together for just 3,000 quid. According to the BBC, the film is set between The Hobbit and the Fellowship of the Ring, and “tells the story of Aragorn as he sets out to discover the truth about the Ring”. Writer and director Chris Bouchard explained that, with the blessing of Tolkien Enterprises (as long as the project was non-profit, natch), he set about recruiting a vast cast of volunteers – including 160 credited crew and 60 who worked on visual effects alone. LoTR fan film set for net premiere
Simon Vozick-Levinson writes: I have no clue how The Hunt for Gollum has gotten past New Line Cinema and the J.R.R. Tolkien estate’s intellectual property lawyers. Nor do I care, because this “by fans, for fans” non-profit 40-minute Lord of the Rings tribute film looks awesome. As far as I can tell from the trailers, the plot, adapted from part of Tolkien’s voluminous appendices, is supposed to take place some time between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring. EW Talks ‘The Hunt for Gollum’
The folks at Dailymotion send this in: On May 3rd (a week from Sunday), “The Hunt for Gollum” will make its debut on video sharing site Dailymotion. This high-production value, 45-minute film was a labor of love, produced by entirely by fans of the Tolkien trilogy on a volunteer basis over the past 2 years. Inspired by notes in the appendices of the book, the film follows Aragorn as he sets out to find the creature Gollum and discover the truth about the Ring.
