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Crossover Dreams: Global Circulation of Queer Film on the Film Festival Circuits

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Skadi Loist
Skadi Loist*
Affiliation:
University of Rostock, Germany
*
Skadi Loist, Universität Rostock, Philosophische Fakultät, Institut für Medienforschung, August-Bebel-Straße 28, 18055 Rostock, Germany. Email: skadi.loist@uni-rostock.de
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Abstract

The ubiquity of gender-bending and sexually ambiguous imagery in the media seems to herald a post-gay era. But are LGBT/Q identities and representation politics really a thing of the past? Inspection of the circulation patterns of LGBT/Q images on a global scale suggests a more nuanced story. Taking the lead from distribution and film festival studies, in this essay I sketch out how LGBT/Q images travel around the world. The festival network was always an alternative channel to mainstream work. Therefore, I pay particular attention to the international film festival circuit with its art film bias, on one hand, and activist festivals, such as LGBT/Q film festivals and their LGBT/Q-themed films, on the other. Utilizing Lisa Henderson's notion of “queer relay” I argue that the relationship between the queer film ecosystem and the larger art film circuit is highly ambivalent. The deployed art film strategies reveal that we have not yet arrived at actual acceptance and universality in a post-gay, post-identitarian world. However, the positions on the side of distinction and cultural capital do not just lean towards exploitation of queer subcultural productions by neoliberal forces but offer also a relay position that accounts for queer agency in the wider cultural arena.

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Articles
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Diogenes , Volume 62 , Issue 1: Gender, globalisation, and cinema , February 2015 , pp. 57 - 72
Copyright
Copyright © ICPHS 2016

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References

Filmography

Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, USA 2005)Google Scholar
Brüno (Larry Charles, USA 2009)Google Scholar
Concussion (Stacie Passon, USA 2013)Google Scholar
Desert Hearts (Donna Deitch, USA 1986)Google Scholar
Desert Motel (Liza Johnson, USA 2005)Google Scholar
Dupã Dealuri /Beyond the Hills (Cristian Mungiu, ROM 2012)Google Scholar
Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes, 2002)Google Scholar
Fremde Haut/Unveiled (Angelina Maccarone, D 2005)Google Scholar
Go Fish (Rose Troche, USA 1994)Google Scholar
Interior. Leather Bar (Travis Mathews, James Franco, USA 2013)Google Scholar
I’m Not There (Todd Haynes, USA 2007)Google Scholar
Keep the Lights On (Ira Sachs, USA 2012)Google Scholar
La vie d’Adèle – Chapitre 1& 2/Blue Is the Warmest Color (Abdellatif Kechiche, FR 2013)Google Scholar
Laurence Anyways (Xavier Dolan, CAN 2012)Google Scholar
Les adieux à la reine/Farewell, My Queen (Benoît Jacquot, FR 2012)Google Scholar
Lianna (John Sayles, USA 1983)Google Scholar
Mala Noche (Gus van Sant, USA 1985)Google Scholar
Milk (Gus Van Sant, USA 2008)Google Scholar
My Beautiful Laundrette (Stephen Frears, UK 1985)Google Scholar
Nymph()maniac 1+2 (Lars von Trier, DK/D/B/UK/FR 2014)Google Scholar
Pariah (Dee Rees, USA 2007, 27 min)Google Scholar
Pariah (Dee Rees, USA 2011, 86 min)Google Scholar
Parting Glances (Bill Sherwood, USA 1986)Google Scholar
Personal Best (Robert Towne, USA 1982)Google Scholar
Philadelphia (Jonathan Demme, USA 1993)Google Scholar
Praia do Futuro (Karim Aïnouz, BR/D 2014)Google Scholar
L’Inconnu du lac/Stranger by the Lake (Alain Guiraudie, FR 2012)Google Scholar
Tan de repente/Suddenly (Diego Lerman, ARG/NL 2002)Google Scholar
Tarnation (Jonathan Caouette, USA 2003/2004)Google Scholar
The Birdcage (Mike Nichols, USA 1996)Google Scholar
The Kids Are All Right (Lisa Cholodenko, USA 2010)Google Scholar
Tomboy (Céline Sciamma, FR 2011)Google Scholar
Vic + Flo ont vu un ours/Vic and Flo Saw a Bear (Denis Côté, CAN 2013)Google Scholar
Victim (Basil Dearden, UK 1961)Google Scholar
Wimię… (Małgorzata Szumowska, PL 2013)Google Scholar
Weekend (Andrew Haigh, UK 2012)Google Scholar

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