On the heels of Tolkien fan-films Born of Hope and The Hunt for Gollum comes a new effort being directed by French film-maker Dimitri Frank: Storm Over Gondolin.
Unlike those other two films, the non-profit movie Storm Over Gondolin will take viewers back to events of the Elder Days, committing to film for the first time the events of The Fall of Gondolin.
The upcoming film brings the audience into Beleriand during the height of Elven glory in the First Age. Set in the eponymous city, it was the last Elven stronghold in Middle-earth that stood against Morgoth.
The threat of the Dark Lord was growing: the Elves of Middle-earth were divided, and only Turgon, the King of Gondolin, stood in his path of ultimate victory. Amidst the intrigues and turmoil that threatened to expose the Hidden City to the forces of Morgoth, Storm Over Gondolin captures the journeys of the Man and prophesied hero Tuor and his shipwrecked Elf guide Voronwë.
Dimitri Frank says that the writing team is devoting especial care to the screenplay because of the difficulties of working with multiple canon sources.
“The screenwriters were already well-versed with the story before being involved in the production. Writing the script is like working on a puzzle; putting different parts of the story together piece by piece, creating the links, developing the characters, and we have to present it all in context to accommodate a part of the audience who might have not read The Silmarillion.”
The film is being shot in English (and subtitled in many different languages), and will be released for free on the Internet. The project is currently in pre-production with filming slated to begin in 2015.
Storm Over Gondolin / Video Diary #1 by stormovergondolin
