JACK HILL
Lake Arrowhead Film Festival Award
for Excellence in the Art of Independent Filmmaking

Jack Hill grew up around movies. His father was a designer for the Disney studios and Warner Brothers. Jack went to the University of California to study film, where he was a classmate of Francis Ford Coppola. They worked together on student productions and later both apprenticed with Roger Corman, working on The Terror (1963).

But while Coppola went on to more mainstream films (and mainstream awards), Jack continued with B-flicks. And some of those are absolute gems within the genre, including such worthy cult titles as Spider Baby, Coffy, and The Big Bird Cage. His film Foxy Brown (1974) was one of the critical and commercial high points of the “blaxploitation” films of the 1970’s.

But soon after his Switchblade Sisters (1975), he stopped making movies so he and his wife Elke could pursue meditation and he could write novels.

So clearly distinct from his father’s work at Disney or his ex-schoolmate Coppola’s work in general, Jack Hill has carved a unique niche for himself in the modern film canon. Today, Jack Hill’s films are hailed as cult classics, thanks primarily to Quentin Tarantino, who saw Hill’s work as it made its way to video and has been very vocal regarding Jack’s influence on his own films.  A remake of Jack’s cult classic, Spider Baby, has recently been announced with Jeff Broadstreet set to direct.

Jack will receive his award during the Filmmakers’ Awards Luncheon on Sunday afternoon. Jack can also be seen in the new vampire/horror film, The Kiss, which premieres here at the Lake Arrowhead Film Festival on Saturday night.