It has become a tradition in the meantime that Zee-Brugge (Belgium) organizes a Sand sculptures Festival every year and even though it's usually worth a look anyway, there is an extra reason for any Science-fiction addict to make a call on the Festival this time. Every year the organization picks another theme for the sand sculptures and for 2004 it was none other than...Hollywood! In the advertisements the initiators claimed that every �big� movie ever on the screen would be featured in sand. And that promise was answered pretty well!

     Of course all this just had to mean that Star Wars would get at least one reference. To our delight, there was more than just one...

     C�dric Goffinet, friend to yours truly and very aware of my addictions and bad habits, visited the exhibition and even if he thought that the exhibition track was a bit on the short side for the 8 � entrance fee one needs to pay, he did bring home a couple of particularly enchanting pictures of sandy Star Wars sculptures that I wanted to share with you.

If you're looking for some Star Wars, you don't have to wait very long. You're immediately greeted by C-3PO (along with Marilyn Monroe and Hannibal Lecter) when you start the exhibition. The size of Threepio's head sticking out of a pile of filmstrip is truly amazing, as is the detail on his features! And no, I don't know either what the strange symbol is that was put on his metal...er...sand forehead. If you do know, shoot me an e-mail.

A bit further down the track, a sandman Yoda finds himself stuck between the Blues Brothers. To be able to measure up to them at least a little bit, he took place on a stack of his favourite books. And if we can believe the sculptors, Yoda would have titles such as �The Force 4 Beginners�, �Levitation Made Easy� and �Jedi� in his library. Nice touch, good humour ...

Next Star Wars sculptures are a huge Millennium Falcon flying towards an equally huge Death Star. You get a picture of the Falcon and the Death Star separately to marvel at the detail that again has been put in them. The Falcon is pretty accurate with most of the important details on the hull there. And yes, that is Shrek in the back there, poking his nose into Star Wars business. Will we see Darth Shrek in the Star Wars Saga soon? Just the thought! Oh, the horror!

The globe of the Death Star has all characteristics of the world-devastating weapon from A New Hope. It's not completely a perfect globe, but that is nitpicking. Look at the size of this thing! That is no moon; it's a Sand Station...I have to admit that the battle scene in the front also charmed me. You see a Predator, Freddy Krueger and Jason. I bet a whole lot of sand was flowing there...

last picture then shows Darth Vader in all his dark glory. Even if the helmet is very well done, the purist will likely think that the body detail could be a bit better. But remember, this Vader is made of just sand! He got a fluorescent tube as lightsaber, which presumably is lit up when it gets a bit darker.


     All things considered, I guess that nobody will deny that Star Wars got some real nice references throughout the entire exhibition. It may occur a bit strange that there are no sculptures about the Prequel Trilogy, but that probably only means that the artists who did the sculptures are all �Old School�. You won't hear me complain...