Organisers of the CayFilm Cayman International Film Festival have announced that Anthony Daniels, better known as C-3PO to Star Wars aficionados, will be in Cayman for the Festival which takes place over the long holiday weekend in July. Daniels will join other cast and crew members from the hugely successful science fiction movie franchise for a reunion which will also include the Caribbean premiere of Elstree 1976, a newly-released documentary about the original Star Wars movie.

70-year old Daniels has starred in all of the Star Wars films as the body and voice of the golden robot. Other credits include The Lego Movie and a host of TV movies and series, most featuring him as the voice of C-3PO.

“We are beyond excited that Mr. Daniels has agreed to join us for the Festival and the reunion,” said Festival Director Tony Mark. “As the only cast member who has appeared in all the Star Wars movies, Anthony is a legend, and he will have some amazing stories to share about the early days on set with George Lucas. He usually doesn’t do the film festival circuit, so we are honoured that he decided to come to Cayman for CayFilm.”

Tony said that Daniels will participate in a Star Wars panel that will also include Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett), Ben Burtt (sound designer) and Lorne Peterson (model project supervisor). Attendees will be able to ask questions of the panellists. The documentary will be shown before the panel, and Tony says he expects there will be a lot of buzz about the film which premiered in the USA on 6 May.

Elstree 1976 is a feature-length documentary looking at the lives of the people behind the masks and beneath the helmets in the original Star Wars. It focuses on the community of British character actors who were intimately involved with a pop culture phenomenon. The cast includes David Prowse (Darth Vader), Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett) and Paul Blake (Greedo).

“This is resolutely not a “Making of Star Wars” documentary. “Star Wars” is merely the common ground shared by these people and just a starting point for collecting the experiences of this generation of performers,” explained Director Jon Spira. “It tells the story of six decades of British theatre, cinema and movie conventions from the perspective of working actors whose characters’ fame often seem to eclipse their own.”

CayFilm takes place from 1st to 4th July, and includes daily film screenings, question and answer sessions with filmmakers, panel discussions, workshops, exclusive premiere screenings and two celebrity gala events. Opening night will take place on Friday, 1 July and the closing gala will happen on Monday, 4 July and feature an awards ceremony. Awards scheduled to be presented are Best Local Filmmaker which is named after Caymanian filmmaker Frank E. Flowers, and will be introduced and presented for the first time, and a Lifetime Achievement award which will be given to Robert Watts, one of the producers of the original three Star Wars films.

Other highlights of the Festival include the 10-year anniversary celebration of Frank E. Flowers’ film Haven. Flowers will show a never-before-seen Director’s cut of the film and reunite some of the film’s cast and crew.

Tickets are now on sale for the CayFilm Cayman International Film Festival at Cathy Church’s Photo Centre or online at www.cayfilm.com.