Queer Cinema in the World

In his manifesto, 'A Queer('s) Cinema,' Manuel Betancourt declares, queer cinema is global cinema, queer cinema is not universal, is intersectional, is an aesthetic sensibility. Through film and video from Kenya, Hong Kong, India, France, The Dominican Republic, Spain, Palestine, the US, Argentina etc., this course engages with a range of queer cinematic forms and queer spectatorial practices in different parts of the world. We examine how queer cinema enables different ways of being in the world and creates different worlds (Galt and Schoonover). Varied narratives about sexual minorities, same-sex desire, LGBTQI+ rights, censorship, precarity, and hopefulness attune us to regional cultural specificities in queer expression and representation, prompting us to move away from hegemonic and homogenizing understandings of queer life and media.