BLOG Judge Minty: A Fan Film

Last year was a big year for Judge Dredd. With the character celebrating his 35th birthday, getting a second chance at a cinematic outing and with 2000AD running some brilliant storylines within the pages of Tharg’s illustrious comic, it was a very good year for Judge Dredd, 2000AD and fans of both.

The short film concentrates on the story of a minor Judge Dredd character who first appeared in 2000AD ’s prog 147 way back in 1980. Judge Minty was an ageing Judge in Mega-City One and the story he featured in – and the fan film – tell the tale of the end of his life as a Mega-City judge and his subsequent Long Walk. The Long Walk is a tradition of sending ageing Judges out into the Cursed Earth to bring law to the lawless when their usefulness to the city is waning. There’s a “work in progress” trailer which was released in 2010 available to watch below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2JhQXCjTLY

The film was the brainchild and labour of love of Steven Sterlacchini and Stephen Green, with costume and props designed by Daniel Carey-George. Judge Minty stars Edmund Dehn as the title character with an appearance by 2000AD artist Greg Staples as Dredd himself.

Begun back in 2008 the film has involved thousands of volunteered man hours with many fans giving their time, acting talents and expertise to help this project to completion. The fans of Dredd really have rallied to this cause and the project even had the blessing of 2000AD and its publisher Rebellion.

Getting its premier last November, the film was shown at both the Leeds Film Festival and at Thought Bubble. Since then film has gone on to be a huge hit across the film and comic convention circuit and has appeared all overh te country and even managed to be shown in several locations over in the US. If you’re a regular convention goer you may even have managed to get see it. The next place the film will appear is at the Dundee Comics Expo on 30 March.

The film is a not-for-profit fan film so you won’t be able to buy it, but if you haven’t managed to catch it at a con in the last six months Judge Minty will be available to watch online for free sometime in April or May. And to whet fan appetites a little more this week saw the release of a new trailer over on the 2000AD website.

I haven’t managed to catch the film yet myself – we keep going to different conventions – but I am really (really) looking forward to seeing it. For more details on the release date of this film, conventions at which it’s appearing and loads of interesting background information, keep an eye on the Judge Minty blog page .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cLIfbQeSW2w

• Judge Dredd is the Creation of John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra.
• Judge Minty is the creation of John Wagner and Mick McMahon.

Steven Ellis