It has been announced this week that Nouveaux Pictures and Cine-Excess are to join forces to create a new DVD label that will "take trash seriously." Sounds right up our street.

In what is believed to be the UK's first ever cross commercial-academic film venture, Brunel University's School of Arts Cult Film Archive, via its Cine-Excess project, has been given the rights to the archive of some of the 300 movies owned by the legendary B-movie producer and film director, Roger Corman. The university's intention to "take trash seriously" in an academic respect and to release the films from the Corman archive on DVD has led to the university's lecturer in Film and TV Studies and director of Cine-Excess, Xavier Mendik, seeking out the services of the prestigious London-based art film outlet, Nouveaux Pictures, as a joint distributor of its forthcoming titles. Cine-Excess was originally established in 2007 by the Cult Film Archive at Brunel University as a high profile annual conference and film festival aimed at bringing together leading international scholars and critics with global cult filmmakers for a series of plenary talks, filmmaker interviews and UK theatrical premieres of up and coming cult releases.

The aim of the Nouveaux Pictures/Cine-Excess label is to bring the very best examples of cult cinema to both the commercial consumer and to the cult film studies educational sector. Extra features on the label's releases will include university academics discussing the films, many of which have been, or are being remade in Hollywood, but may also have a "retro" appeal to new audiences and are of interest to film studies students.

The first DVD release from Nouveaux Pictures/Cine-Excess will be Viva, the debut full-length feature by LA-based artist and filmmaker Anna Biller (The Hypnotist; A Visit From The Incubus). Future releases will include the Corman-directed gem Not of This Earth and Attack of the Crab Monsters and Ron Howard's directorial debut feature, Grand Theft Auto, along with such well-known cult cinema titles as Slumber Party Massacre, Big Bad Mama, Death Sport, The Cry Baby Killer starring Jack Nicholson, plus Dick Maas' Amsterdamned and a Special Edition of Dario Argento's classic, Suspiria.

Speaking about the planned releases, Xavier Mendik said, "These are probably the first cross commercial-academic DVD movie releases ever. For someone who grew up as a cult film fan the opportunity to be able to release some of my all-time favourite movies is a dream come true."

Martin Nash, director of Nouveaux Pictures commented, "We have always been a niche label enjoying good support from the educational sector and we are delighted to distribute cutting edge movies, not only targeted at academia, but to the wider DVD market as well."