Cine Excess Cult Film conference to honour Catherine Breillat & Francisco Barilli
Cine-Excess in conjunction with the B-Film: Birmingham Centre for Film Studies at the University of Birmingham is hosting a special public industry panel which will discuss the current climate for low budget film making.
Entitled ‘Echoes of Excess: Cult Film Creation, Financing and the New Digital Economy’, this is the first time that the cult film festival and conference has brought together international film producers, directors and regional film agency representatives to discuss how the new digital economy and current remake trends are helping aspiring filmmakers. The festival and conference takes place at mac birmingham, the contemporary arts centre, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary.
The debating panel is made up of distinguished international and local film industry experts. These include Italian director Federica Martino, who is talking about her decision to remake some of her father Sergio (Torso and Mountain of the Cannibal God) Martino’s most famous cult films; Meg Thomson, from LA-based Eccho Remakes, who is pioneering new cult renditions across national boundaries; and Professor Roger Shannon from Edge-Hill University and Swish Films, who founded the award-winning Birmingham International Film Festival in 1985 and programs mac birmingham’s Departure Lounge screenings.
The event is chaired by Professor Gillian Youngs from the University of Brighton, whose recent books include Global Political Economy in the Information Age (2006) and The Digital World: Connectivity, Creativity and Rights (2013).
The Echoes of Excess industry panel is free to both Cine-Excess delegates and mac birmingham patrons (aged 18 and over). The event is jointly organised by the University of Birmingham and University of Brighton.
The guests of honour are controversial and acclaimed French filmmaker Catherine Breillat (Romance, A Ma Soeur! Anatomy of Hell) and Italian actor turned cult auteur Francesco Barilli (The Perfume of the Lady in Black, Pensione Paura). They will both receive Cine-Excess lifetime achievement awards at the event. Previous recipients have included Roger Corman, Dario Argento, Joe Dante and Franco Nero.
To celebrate this year’s theme of Erotic Excess, there’s a special screening season entitled Dark Romance, showing premieres, new and classic films that deal with the dark side of eroticism. These include Francesco Barilli’s lost masterpiece PENSIONE PAURA (1977) about the depraved guests in a hotel during World War 2; the newly re-edited version of Federico Zampaglione’s erotic thriller, TULPA (2012); Canadian period home invasion horror from Martin Doepner, ROUGE SANGE (2012); the psychological terror of children’s games explored in Juanra Fernández’ FOR ELISA (2012); and concluding with the scent-sational dark allure of Jesse Peyronel’s SIREN (2103).
This year’s theme for the Cine-Excess VII Cult Film Festival and Conference is ‘European Erotic Cinema: Identity, Desire and Disgust’, and includes academic discussions, public screenings and talks from international filmmakers. It runs 15th – 17th November 2013.
Information and tickets for all events: www.macarts.co.uk/event/cine-excess-vii / 0121 446 3232
Full details of the conference and festival can be found at: www.cine-excess.co.uk