Thanks to a Syd Barrett acquaintance the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit has got a first hand testimony about Iggy that, although the facts date from over 40 years ago, contains some very interesting new titbits and an anecdote contradicting most Syd biographies. But that is for later as the article is still in the make… but do visit this place from time to time or check its rss feed.

The producer and editor of the Iggy Eskimo Girl movie, Sadia Sadia let the Church know that a DVD release of the movie is not foreseen for the near future:

The film is quite new and we would hope that it would continue to do the rounds of film festivals before becoming more widely available.

It will also shortly be submitted to the British Council for inclusion in their UK film archives. At that point the film may become available through the British Council but we are still in very early stage discussions with them.

"Chimera Arts wish not to release this material for the time being and prefer not to see it appear in the public domain.", thus the official statement goes.

The Church understands this position but keeps on praying that one day the Iggy movie vaults will be opened and that this relic will be revealed to its true believers.

It is now time to disclose one of the Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit prophesies that recently came to the Reverend in a vision; alas it is no prognostication of the future, but one of the past…

About 15 years ago the founder of this Church, Reverend Felix Atagong, and his en-route companion drove for hours through pastures and fields to attend a mini-moving-picture-festival promising to show at least 3 different movies by Anthony Stern (and Peter Whitehead). One of them movies was going to be San Francisco, featuring an unreleased track of a band called Pink Floyd. Although he led a life of alcohol, drugs and women abuse the Reverend remembers it very well because his first thought had been: "What the fuck Pink Floyd has go to do with San Francisco?"

Anyway, they drove and drove and drove... Arrived at a hippie den where, at the bar, 3 very smelly people were staring into empty beer glasses. The Reverend and his missus had a beer, then another one, and one again, and when the time was there for the first movie to start he asked the bartender when the first movie was going to start. Thus he spoke: "Bartender, when the first movie is going to start?"

"The movie festival has been cancelled.", replied the bartender, "For lack of interest."

It appeared that Reverend Felix (and his LA-girl) were the only two people in Belgium who had showed up. The 3 smelly guys guys at the bar just happened to be the 3 smelly guys guys at the bar who happened to be always there. The reverend and his spouse had another beer and drove back home.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, this story is true. The Reverend still wonders if (parts of) the Iggy Eskimo Girl movie were scheduled at the festival, if…
...if only…
...if…
...and thus the seeds of the true Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit were sown...

An image gallery with stills of the movie can be found at the gallery.

Note: Anthony Stern's San Francisco movie can be found on Youtube. Part 1. Part 2.