University News Last updated 03 November 2020
An international film festival is set to be held virtually for the first time in its 14 year history, featuring a range of exclusive movie screenings, and talks exploring portrayals of race, gender and sexuality across cult cinema.
The Cine-Excess International Film Festival runs from Wednesday 4th November to Sunday 8th November 2020, and is organised in association with Birmingham City University and the Black Sands Educational Project.
During the Festival movie icon and Jackie Brown star Pam Grier will be awarded with a lifetime achievement award, and deliver a keynote speech detailing her experiences as a leading African American female figure in cult cinema spanning four decades (Friday 6th November, 6.30pm UK time).
Cine-Excess will not just consider Pam Grier’s contribution to the big and small screen, but also chart the wider influence of blaxploitation cinema, race and ethnicity in horror remakes and LGBTQ+ representations across a range of film traditions.
Coming just days after Halloween, the Festival will include screenings of fourteen diverse horror and genre movies including some making their UK debut, and two set to be released on a forthcoming Cine-Excess digital film channel (which launches later in November).
Screenings include:
- The UK premiere of Chop Chop, Indian-born director Rony Patel’s American feature film debut which has been labelled as a smart, unconventional thriller
- The UK premiere of Black Lake a new film drawing inspiration from a true story of gendered violence; followed by a Q and A with its director K / XI
- Screening of Leakage, an Iranian genre movie exploring nationhood, economic disempowerment and the social taboos surrounding the female body. Followed by a Q and A with Director Susan Iravanian
- Tales of Terror 2020, with a leading panel of experts examining student film pitch entries for unreleased films – featuring special guests, Canadian Directors, Producers and Screenwriters the Soska Sisters.
Xavier Mendik Director of the Cine-Excess Film Festival and Professor of Cult Cinema Studies at Birmingham City University, said: “Cine-Excess 2020 is definitely the most diverse edition of the festival to date.
During the conference an array of talks will be held across the three-day event focussed on how issues of equality, diversity and representation are tackled across cult cinema. The schedule includes discussions on topics that include:
- Decolonising cult film studies
- Representations as weapons: race and sexuality in cult film
- International traditions of resistance
Tickets are available for the Festival and conference by visiting www.cine-excess.co.uk, where you can also view the event’s full schedule.