Two years ago, filmmaker Annalise Ophelian launched a crowdfunding campaign for her documentary, Looking for Leia, a project that focused on the impact that Carrie Fisher’s iconic character had on the franchise’s female fans. Now, the project has been split into seven short episodes, and is now available online thanks to Syfy.
https://youtu.be/Q_5ldYu-Fsg
At the launch of the Kickstarter project, Ophelian told me that she wanted to focus on how Star Wars impacted female fans, especially because the franchise always seems to be dominated by male fans. She first saw Star Wars in theaters in 1977, and was amazed at the level of female representation when she attended Star Wars Celebration in 2015.
That experience helped to inspire the documentary, and she’s been hard at work since interviewing fans across the country. Last year, she changed up the project a bit, shifting it from a documentary film into a documentary series, which the Syfy Channel announced earlier this week that it had acquired.
Now, you can watch the entire project online on the Syfy Channel’s website and on its YouTube channel. The first two episodes will air on Syfy tonight at 11/10c. Given that Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker just hit theaters this week, it’s the perfect way to close out the week.
Presenting a seven-episode mini docuseries from @SYFYWIRE, all about the women and non-binary fans whose lives have been forever changed by #StarWars.
Watch two episodes of #LookingForLeia, Saturday at 11/10c on SYFY. pic.twitter.com/kjqxl7IYfN
— SYFY (@SYFY) December 19, 2019
The first Star Wars movie turned the ‘damsel in distress’ trope on its head. The heroes (and the audience) believe that they are rescuing a princess, but they really are freeing a general from a POW prison.
@1:
The best thing about it is that it wasn’t one or the other; it was both. Proving that those two things are not mutually exclusive.
You can be female, and feminine, and in distress, and still be a badass general who will grab the gun right out of your rescuer’s hand and blow crap up.
I watched all 7 episodes (they’re pretty short) and enjoyed them thoroughly. I think my favorites were the one about the early days of fandom–home published zines!-and the one about Star Wars being translated into Navajo.