Queer Cinema from Spain and France: the translation of desire and the formation of transnational queer identities

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The project focuses on transnational sexualities and their representation in cinema. It homes in on Spain and France (as sites of production, distribution and reception) and Britain (as a site of distribution and reception), and on lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer films and their audiences/viewers. Building on previous film historical work on the processes of transnationalization of cinema and on recent shifts in thinking about queer cultural identities, the project examines specific cases of the trans-European traffic of films and film makers in the context of the notions of queer culture and queer cinema and in the period 1990 to the present day. It examines: the question of the translatability in images of formations of desire; questions of audience and critical reception and cultural translation in relation to taste, fantasy, desire and values; the relationship between cultural flows and the formation and representation of queer identities in national and transnational contexts. It has a close match to aspects of the AHRC Emerging Theme on Translating Cultures and the potential to link with developments therein.The work involves: archival and web-based investigation (including on-line forums and fan sites); festival visits; film and performance analysis; and audience research. The project will advance the current state of audience research by: engaging with media production and its reception across four languages (Spanish, French, Catalan, English); recruiting its participants across a range of digital and physical audience locations; focusing on queer cinematic production which both chronicles the local (in portraying sub-national identities) and draws on the global (borrowing, translating, transferring, and often exoticising foreign models of queer life). Analyses of the films and performances will take into account discourses and theories of sexuality and difference. The audience research and festival-based presentations directly involve queer communities in a range of locations. Specifically, analysis will include responses in France to the films of Pedro Almodóvar, Ventura Pons, Marta Balletbó-Coll, Cesc Gay, and others; in Spain of the films of François Ozon, Sebastien Lifshitz, André Techiné, Josiane Balasko, Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau and others; and in Britain to a range of niche-market and festival-based queer French and Spanish cinema (in various formats). The two Investigators have a substantial record in queer cultural analysis and bring together complementary, relevant areas of expertise, as further detailed in the Justification of Resources and the Case for Support.One joint-authored monograph, seven articles, six conference papers, and a range of local presentations and discussion groups are planned for production starting within the period of the project with a further , linked monograph brought to completion during the first three months (capitalizing on preceding, institutionally supported leave).