Synopsis: A look at how sci-fi comedy film 'Iron Sky' came to be, including selling war bonds to fans.

"In 1945 the Nazis fled to the moon. In 2018 they are coming back." Such is the premise of science fiction comedy film 'Iron Sky', being produced by Energia Productions, Blind Spot Pictures and Cinet, and co-produced by 27 Films.

As the story has it, the Nazis made a breakthrough in anti-gravity towards the end of World War II, founded the military base Schwarze Sonne (Black Sun) on the dark side of the Moon, and built a powerful invasion fleet to return and take over the Earth. In 2018, brace yourself for the Fourth Reich.

It's so over-the-top bad, that it could turn out to be something very, very good. That's probably why Finnish company Energia - with many of the same folks who created indie spoof 'Star Wrek', the most popular Internet feature film of all time - was able to secure the $5 million needed to execute the film independently. But it wasn't easy.

To get Iron Sky off the ground, they would need to chase subsidies and pre-sales, while simultaneously getting creative with independent financing.

How creative? War bonds creative.

Sparked by a Finnish law that prohibits donations to anything other than non-profit organizations, Iron Sky skirted the rule by making sure that financial contributions from fans are exchanged for hard goods. It's a fancy, and legal, way of donating. The crew at Energia also knew, from their previous experience with Star Wrek, that a couple hundred thousand is the rough ceiling you can expect to raise when micro-financing a few dollars at a time.

In order to garner $50 or $100 dollar contributions, they needed to be able to give people product, and the war bonds became an original way to package Iron Sky promotional material, including a behind-the-scenes DVD, a book, an official certificate, and branded dog tags. (Buy your war bonds here, and they also have merchandising up the wazoo that you can check out here.)

To generate buzz, Energia has also released an Iron Sky teaser Remix Pack, which includes video and audio from the film's original teaser trailer in separate files for easy editing.

"It was something we should have done with Star Wrek, so people could remix the whole film," says Iron Sky and Star Wrek director Timo Vuorensola. "For Iron Sky, we thought, if we really want to go with this idea of collaboration, then if it's possible, we should release stuff and let people mess around with it ... so it's like a sort of sand box where you can do your own stories as well." (Download the Remix Pack here.)

As cool as the new financing and promotional angles are, they still don't get you to $5 million. For that, you need more traditional methods. The team has been to Cannes three times now, and is starting to find the balance between old and new methods.

They've also employed an age old tactic that financial backers love to see: the casting of super sexy ladies. Energia has cast German actress Julia Dietze as Moon Nazi officer Renate Richter, a move that will surely be appreciated by lopsided male demographics typically eager for this sort of project. From a marketing standpoint, it's a stroke of genius (if you don't believe us, Google "Julia Dietze" and check out the drool-fest happening on blogs around the world).

As far as distribution is concerned, when and where you get to see this film - especially in North America, no one can say for sure.

"That's a good question," says Vuorensola. "And of course, I would love to see us not have this sort of territorial distribution in the future because the fact is that if we release Iron Sky and it's not available in the US, everyone's going to get it anyway. The point is, they can't stop it, people will get it on Pirate Bay or somewhere, once it's out, it's out everywhere."

Will Iron Sky be a genre defying achievement, showing the world that sci-fi can thrive at micro-budgets? Or will it be 'Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow' with broken English and Baywatch caliber acting? Either way, they'll get me to part with my hard-earned money to find out, which is more than I can say for most of what Hollywood is passing off as science fiction these days.

Iron Sky begins preproduction next month and principal photography early next year. It is intended for release in early 2011.