In the past year, things have been fairly tumultuous for Kevin Smith. The writer/director, who has one of the more active celebrity Twitter accounts, has been very vocal about his dislike of film criticism and via his Podcasts, has hinted that his next project, the hockey film Hit Somebody, will be his last movie. Now he's made it official.Speaking after the premiere of his newest film, Red State (read our review here ), at the Sundance Film Festival tonight, Smith has confirmed that he will retire as a director following the filming of his next project. According to our source on the inside, the wonderful Katey Rich, he will instead focus on helping other people make movies. Whether this means that he will be serving as a producer or continuing to write is unknown, but we will update this story as we know more.Though Smith has more than his fair share of critics, I have always enjoyed his films. Even today Clerks is the perfect example of what determination and perseverance can lead to. Dogma is a tremendously well written film about the nature of faith. And hell, Jay and Silent Bob are wonderful characters that earned their popularity. It's a shame it has to end this way, but here's hoping it's actually for the best.