We would like to welcome you to the website for the Global Queer Cinema (GQC) project. GQC is a collaborative research project engaged in investigating queer film cultures from a global perspective and analysing world cinema from a queer point of view.

In addition to scholarly inquiry into the spaces and forms of queer world cinema, the project’s activities include programming innovative queer cinema, holding workshops, and bringing scholars together with film festival programmers, filmmakers and activists from around the world for public discussions of queer visual culture. The project is led by Rosalind Galt (University of Sussex) and Karl Schoonover (University of Warwick) and it is funded by an Arts and Humanities Research Council Research Network Grant. We are partnered with the British Film Institute and CineCity – the Brighton Film Festival.

The GQC website focuses on new research on global forms of queer cinema and will form an open access archive for project-generated material, and for queer film and moving image studies resources. We publish shortform and longer pieces on international queer cinema, using scholarly models from queer theory and film studies but not limited to traditional academic writing and publishing models. We are interested in the worldly shapes and spaces of queer cinema, its styles, its institutions and its archives.

The editorial collective for the website comprises Karl, Rosalind, and Catherine Grant (University of Sussex and Film Studies for Free). Our fellow contributor is Laura Ellen Joyce (University of Sussex), GQC Project Coordinator. The website collective also benefits from the support of the international editorial advisory board of its publisher REFRAME.

In short, this website is intended to be a long term repository for work which arises from the research project, as well as a place to foster discussion among the global queer film community. Writings from members of the editorial board and the GQC network are launching the site, but we are eager to publish work from guest contributors. Please see our call for contributions here.

As for what you can already find archived here, our series Queer Frames asks an author to take a look at a single frame from a movie and analyse it. Long Takes offer a deeper look at films, directors and issues in queer global cinema. There are several short series which cover themes from the Queer Uncanny to Home Movies to Queer Cosmetics. Posts will also focus on Queer Film Cultures, raising awareness of film festivals, events and activities. In addition, there is an online, and openly accessible, queer film studies resources section.

We will update the website regularly to alert our readers to the events and opportunities arising from the GQC project. So please use our website feed for updates, and also follow and talk to us on Twitter and Facebook.

Rosalind, Karl, Catherine and Laura
September 2012