Queer European Cinema

Catalog description

This graduate seminar will explore the intertwined histories of queer European cinemas, focusing on French, German, and Italian films. From the inherent queerness of early cinema's attractions (e.g., Meliès, the Lumière brothers, the Skladanowsky brothers) to the gender-bending comedies of the Weimar Republic; from the queer auteurism of new wave cinema (Visconti, Fassbinder, Pasolini, Démy) to the fluid, boundary-pushing sensibilities of more recent works by filmmakers like Akerman, Ozon, Guadagnino and Rohrwacher, this course will examine how representations of gender and sexuality emerge and evolve across different national contexts. In doing so, we will also take a transnational perspective, tracing connections and influences those cross borders and complicate traditional cinematic narratives. The seminar provides an introduction to both film history and queer studies, open to graduate students and qualified undergraduates by permission of the instructors. No prior knowledge of film or queer theory is required.