Jun 26, 2007 - Archived - This is the archive of the I-CON 26 website, it will no longer be updated. For the latest I-CON news, please visit the main I-CON site at http://iconsf.org

Apr 30, 2007 - Indie Movies - The final list of indie movies shown at I-CON26 has been updated, check it out at the films page.

Apr 17, 2007 - AeroSith at I-CON 26 on Youtube - You can find a video of AeroSith performing at I-CON 26 on youtube here. Enjoy!

Apr 3, 2007 - Charity Auction - A video of Spat doing some creative auctioning for charity at I-CON 26 can be found on youtube here. Our charity auction this year benefited Breast Cancer Help, find more info here!

Mar 25, 2007 - I-CON 26 Photo Highlights - A small photo gallery has been added here. It will be updated as frequently as possible. Enjoy the pics!

News Archive

The career of independent filmmaker Roger Corman contradicts F. Scott Fitzgerald's famous statement, "There are no second acts in American lives." Roger Corman's career is a three-act success story.

In the 50's and 60's he blazed a pioneering trail as an independent producer and director, making a phenomenal number of low-budget features in a variety of genres.

His reputation as a trendsetter started with some of the cult classics he made during this period, including THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (featuring the young Jack Nicholson in a must-see role of a masochist at the dentist's), A BUCKET OF BLOOD, THE INTRUDER (the first film to tell the story of the integration of schools in the South), a classic cycle of horror films based on the stories of Edgar Allan Poe, THE WILD ANGELS (the first "biker" movie, starring Peter Fonda, which opened the Venice Film Festival to great acclaim and became the highest grossing independent film of 1966), and THE TRIP (written by Jack Nicholson and starring Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper).

By the end of the 60's, Corman's provocative films had won him international acclaim. He was the youngest director ever to be honored with retrospectives at the Cinematheque Francaise in Paris, the British Film Institute in London, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

The second act of the legendary Corman career started when he founded his own independent production and distribution company, New World Pictures. During the 70's and early 80's, Corman's company became the major independent producer of fast-paced, youth-oriented genre pictures, including such cult classics as DEATH RACE 2000, ROCK'N ROLL HIGH SCHOOL, BIG BAD MAMA, PIRANHA and BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS. The huge success of pictures such as these enabled Corman to also release high-quality foreign films, by world-class directors such as Ingmar Bergman, Francois Truffaut, Federico Fellini and Akira Kurosawa. In a 10- year period, New World won more Academy Awards for Best Foreign Film than all other studios combined.

In 1983 Corman sold New World Pictures, and founded a new independent production and distribution company, Concorde New Horizons, launching the third act of his entrepreneurial career. Concorde produced a "Roger Corman Presents" series of science fiction, horror and fantasy films for Showtime, produced its first TV series, BLACK SCORPION, which premiered on the Sci Fi Channel, and continues the Corman brand of fast-moving, action-based genre movies.

Roger Corman's eye for talent and unique abilities as a mentor, based on his extensive experience as a producer and director, have launched a number of stellar careers. Graduates of the "Corman film school" include producers Jon Davison and Gale Anne Hurd; writers and writer-directors Robert Towne and John Sayles; actors Sandra Bullock, Charles Bronson, Robert DeNiro, Peter Fonda, Diane Ladd, Jack Nicholson, William Shatner, Talia Shire, Sylvester Stallone, and directors Peter Bogdanovich, James Cameron, Francis Ford Coppola, Joe Dante, Jonathan Demme, Carl Franklin, Ron Howard and Martin Scorsese.

Roger Corman has received an Honorary Doctorate from the American Film Institute, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics, the American Cinema Editors, The Academy of Science Fiction and Fantasy, and the American Film Marketing Association. In 1998, he won the first Producer's Award ever given by the Cannes Film Festival. In 2006, his film FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER was among the twenty-five movies selected for the National Film Registry, a compilation of significant films being preserved by the Library of Congress. Also, in 2006, Roger Corman received the David O. Selznick Award from the Producers Guild of America.