The theme of this year’s festival is Reclaiming the Monsters Outside: Mavericks, Rebels and Rulebreakers in Cult Film. The event is supported by Birmingham City University, who will bring global filmmakers together with leading scholars to examine the ongoing significance of cult film traditions beyond the mainstream.

Guests of honour include American writer-director Ti West (House of the Devil, X, Pearl), who will be the recipient of this year’s Cine-Excess Lifetime Achievement Award. Ti West joins an illustrious panel of previous Cine-Excess award winners that includes Roger Corman, Catherine Breillat, Dario Argento, Franco Nero, Joe Dante and Pam Grier. Commenting on his award nomination West stated: “I am honoured to be recognised by Cine-Excess. To be included in the company of so many great filmmakers that I admire is very humbling. I look forward to being able to interact with many of the University students.”

Ti West joins Cine-Excess on Saturday 22nd October at 8.30pm for a live stream interview conducted at the Midlands Arts Centre, which will be followed a screening of his acclaimed retro horror film X (2022).

Also attending is British director Peter Strickland (front pic – Berberian Sound Studio, In Fabric, Flux Gourmet), whose films continually push the boundaries of cinema experimentation. As the recipient of the Cine-Excess 2022 Innovator of Horror award, Strickland will attend a special screening of his 2012 film Berberian Sound Studio at the Birmingham Electric Cinema on Friday 21 October at 7pm.

Peter Strickland also will participate in an onstage discussion of his work at the Midlands Arts Centre on Saturday 22 October at 5pm, which includes a screening of his current film Flux Gourmet (2022).

Also attending Cine-Excess 16 via a live stream are celebrated Canadian filmmakers Jennifer and Sylvia Soska (above – American Mary [2012], Rabid [2019], On the Edge [2022]), who return to the festival in their role as Birmingham City University Honorary Fellows. The Soska Sisters will be tasking MA Film Distribution students to devise marketing strategies for potential new remakes of horror film classics. This special panel will take place on Thursday 20 October at 5pm.

As part of the event, Cine-Excess 16 will also be running the curated screening season Cult Mavericks on Screen. This profiles the work of new filmmakers from the UK, USA, Canada, Spain, Australia and Pakistan.

Also running across this year’s festival is the themed conference Reclaiming the Monsters Outside: Mavericks, Rebels and Rulebreakers in Cult Film, in which international academics discuss how maverick filmmakers seek to connect with underrepresented communities.

The Cine-Excess International Film Festival is led by Xavier Mendik, Professor of Cult Cinema Studies at Birmingham City University’s Institute of Creative Arts. The festival draws in the talents of established film festival programmers including Paul McEvoy (co-founder of Frightfest) and Natasha Marburger (The Los Angeles International Film Festival). Its annual schedule includes visiting filmmakers, a programme of UK film premieres alongside an online conference for international film scholars.