Previously lost short film Black Angel, which in 1980 screened alongside Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is to become a feature for the big screen, directed by Oscar-winning art director and production designer Roger Christian.

The story centres on medieval knight Sir Maddox, who returns from the Crusades only to find his family gone. He battles dark forces to rid the land of evil and free a mysterious maiden from her captor, the Black Angel.

It was thought all copies of the short film had been lost until an archivist discovered a negative four years ago. Christian wrote, produced and directed the short, which came out three years after he won the shared Academy Award for Best Art Direction for his work on the behemoth Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

Rutger Hauer and John Rhys-Davies will be showing off their acting chops on Black Angel, which is set to shoot in Scotland, Belgium, Hungary and Morocco.

Carnaby International is the sales agent for the project, and we spoke to the company’s lovely Alex Tate, who is also among the producers on the project. He told us that, so far, finance is pretty much 50/50 in terms of a UK/international split and explained the advantages of shooting in more than one country: “We really need to capture a wide range of temperatures and weather conditions, and also to make the best use of some of the amazing standing sets on offer.”

A campaign to raise £100,000 towards the finance goes live on Indiegogo on 2 June.

Production company Black Angel Ltd has been set up specifically for the project, which is due to start shooting in late September.

From 2 June you can find more details on Black Angel on Production Intelligence, including producers and casting director. We will return with updates as specifics are confirmed to us.