Started in 2016, by Nathan Ludwig, Chad Farmer, and Charles Hill, the first annual GenreBlast Film Festival took place in August 2016 in Culpeper, Virginia at the now defunct State Theatre.
[1] Programmers officially described the fest as playing, "horror, action/adventure, sci-fi, fantasy, martial arts, exploitation, grindhouse, international, experimental and more!
"[2][3] After the first year, the festival relocated to the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Winchester, Virginia, where it has been located since.
[8] The festival also gives out a special wrestling belt to recognize an outstanding woman in genre film each year.
The Les Femmes Du Genre Award was given to Tristan Risk in 2016,[9] Samantha Kolesnik in 2017,[10] and Sophia Cacciola in 2018.