Often the term “B-Movie” is thought carry an attitude of derision and scorn. Low budget “B” or genre filmmaking is considered to be second class or in some way inferior to Hollywood’s slick corporate product. We at the B-Movie Celebration know otherwise. We know that for the most part the grand American cinematic tradition has evolved from origins in B-Movies. The weavers of images, whom we as a collective culture deem as masters of the cinematic arts –Scorsese, Coppola, Kaufman, Demme, Leone, Bogdanovich, Lucas, Spielberg and Tarantino — all either toiled in the fields of B-filmmaking or consider themselves primarily influenced by this cinematic tradition.
The B-Movie Celebration realizes that Hollywood has taken the stock-in-trade of B-Movies and subverted the exploitation aspect of it for its own ends, often ignoring the passion and the creativity of the B-Movie auteurs, and have created megabudgeted flicks which have no heart and do not move the art of cinema further. The product Hollywood now produces often acts as a kind of celluloid Eurasian Milfoil, crowding all other of forms of cinema off the viewing public’s radar and demanding that only they have the right or ability to bring entertainment to the world. We take deep exception to this and intend to offer an alternative.
The B-Movie Celebration recognizes that most of the innovation and indeed the very definition of the cinematic arts came as a result of B-Movies. There is a tradition and legacy here that should not be forgotten. Filmmakers like Oscar Micheaux, Ida Lupino, Samuel Fuller, Jacques Tourneur, Lloyd Kaufman, Robert Lippert, Roger Corman and Jim Wynorski have all contributed significantly to the tradition and the emerging art form that is Movies. Some of them still do. This year we are showcasing a global verview of emerging genre filmmakers. These filmmakers are from around the globe and are responsible for creating what we are at the B-Movie Celebration know will influence and impact the next generation of Movie fans. These people have taken on the banner of advancing the art of the motion picture and they like their predecessors must be celebrated. Come and share their works with us this September when the B-Movie Nation comes together to celebrate Everything B.
We hope you’ll join us on September 14th-16th for the Sixth Annual B-Movie Celebration — this year at the YES CINEMA in Columbus Indiana. More at BMovieCelebration.com.