May the 4th Celebration 2025

Pre-screening conversation with actor Ahmed Best and writer Dylan Marron

Luke Skywalker’s destruction of the Death Star at the end of the original Star Wars managed only to slow down Darth Vader’s plans for galactic domination. The young Jedi trainee and his new friends in the Rebellion face greater challenges in The Empire Strikes Back, and Luke learns a shocking secret about his lineage. One of the darkest of all the Star Wars films, as well as one of the most beloved, it won Oscars for its sound and visual effects. It was nominated for its art direction and John Williams’s score, which introduced Darth Vader’s classic theme “The Imperial March.”

The concluding chapter in the third Star Wars trilogy has Rey (Daisy Ridley) coping with the loss of her Jedi mentor as she faces an unexpected nemesis from the Empire’s past. J.J. Abrams (The Force Awakens) directed and cowrote this nonstop intergalactic thrill ride, which received nominations for its original score (John Williams), sound editing (Matthew Wood, David Acord), and visual effects (Roger Guyett, Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach, Dominic Tuohy).