The Cine-Excess International Film Festival and Convention is a UK

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending up ...

about

cult film A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage i ...

s that features a themed conference, open discussions, and screenings. It was founded by Xavier Mendik and has been held in several English cities. As of 2013, it takes place in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

. It caters to mainstream audiences, academics, and film industry professionals.

History

Cine-Excess was originally part of the 2007 Sci-Fi-London film festival and was spun off in 2008 due to its popularity. Mendik describes it as a "mainstream festival" and says was designed to break down barriers between academics and audiences. In the introduction to their book ''

The Cult Film Reader ''The Cult Film Reader'' is a 2008 book edited by Ernest Mathijs and Xavier Mendik. It collects essays by Susan Sontag, Umberto Eco, and others, each on the topic of cult followings, cult films, and related topics. Director and producer Roger Cor ...

'', Mendik and Ernest Mathijs said that it celebrates the mixing of academics and industry professionals, bringing together theory and practice. Andrea Hubert of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' described it as a "unique, eclectic festival which celebrates

paracinema Paracinema is an academic term to refer to a wide variety of film genres out of the mainstream, bearing the same relationship to 'legitimate' film as paraliterature like comic books and pulp fiction bears to literature. Definition In terms of ta ...

and transgressive film-making like no other." In 2013, the festival moved to

. It was held 15–17 November. Lifetime Achievement awards have been given to

Roger Corman Roger William Corman (born April 5, 1926) is an American film director, producer, and actor. He has been called "The Pope of Pop Cinema" and is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of Corman's films are based on works t ...

Dario Argento Dario Argento (; born 7 September 1940) is an Italian film director, producer, screenwriter, actor and critic. His influential work in the horror genre during the 1970s and 1980s, particularly in the subgenre known as ''giallo'', has led him t ...

, and

Joe Dante Joseph James Dante Jr. (; born November 28, 1946) is an American film director, producer, editor and actor. His films—notably '' Gremlins'' (1984) alongside its sequel, '' Gremlins 2: The New Batch'' (1990)—often mix 1950s-style B movies with ...

. Special screenings have included '' The Movie Orgy'' in 2010, ''

Cannibal Holocaust ''Cannibal Holocaust'' is a 1980 Italian found footage cannibal horror film directed by Ruggero Deodato and written by Gianfranco Clerici. It stars Robert Kerman as Harold Monroe, an anthropologist from New York University who leads a rescue ...

'' in 2011, and '' A Gun for Jennifer'' and ''

Society A society is a Social group, group of individuals involved in persistent Social relation, social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same Politics, political authority an ...

'' in 2013. Cine-Excess has partnered with Nouveaux Pictures to release high definition versions of cult films. Releases so far include '' Amsterdamned'', '' Suspiria'', and '' Viva''.

References

External links

* {{Official 2006 establishments in England Film festivals in England Experimental film festivals Fantasy and horror film festivals in the United Kingdom Film festivals established in 2007 Festivals in Birmingham, West Midlands