Outline

Overview

This unit introduces students to queer cinema as a now recognisable global and world-making phenomenon produced within and beyond institutions of mass media. It focuses on films, videos and moving image media produced by LGBTQIA+-identified people, whether as individuals, groups, collectives or in the context of activist movements. Drawing on feminist, queer and trans theories, the unit explores representations of sex, bodies, identities, communities and cultures across mainstream, independent and avant-garde traditions.

Unit details and rules

Academic unit	Film Studies
Credit points	6
Prerequisites ?	12 credits points at 2000 level in Film Studies or 12 credit points at 2000 level in Gender Studies or 12 credit points at 2000 level in Cultural Studies or ENGL2627 Screening Sexuality
Corequisites ?	None
Prohibitions ?	None
Assumed knowledge ?	None
Available to study abroad and exchange students	Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator	Susan Potter, susan.potter@sydney.edu.au

Assessment

The census date for this unit availability is 1 September 2025

Details
Criteria

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length	Use of AI
Written work	Film essay (individual) Individually authored film program essay (text, or audiovisual).	45%	Formal exam period Due date: 17 Nov 2025 at 23:59	2500wd or equivalent	AI allowed
Outcomes assessed:
Portfolio or journal	Film Festival Program Film program (for festival, gallery, museum, service, community, etc).	35%	Week 07 Due date: 21 Sep 2025 at 23:59	1500wd or equivalent (per student)	AI allowed
Outcomes assessed:
In-person written or creative task	Participation Starts week one with significant group exercise, see Assessment Summary below.	20%	Weekly	500 wd equivalent	AI prohibited
Outcomes assessed:
= hurdle task ? = group assignment ?

Assessment summary

Participation (group and individual): First assessment week 1 tutorial: co-creating class principles and values, 5% (group). Remaining assessments are individual: reflection on unit learning outcomes (5%, weeks 2 and 13), and tutorial and plenary session engagement and participation (10%, weeks 1-13).
Film Festival Program (group): This is a process- and skills-oriented assessment drawing on content from weeks 1-7 of the unit. It will include a critical reflection on the group’s collaboration and any consideration or use of AI or not (optional, not required).

Film Program Essay (individual): A film program essay (written text, multimedia or audiovisual equivalent) on a feature-length film or a selection of short films.

For special consideration and arrangements, see https://www.sydney.edu.au/students/special-consideration.html.

Assessment criteria

See Canvas for further information, including assessment rubrics.

For more information see guide to grades.

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI)

You can use generative AI tools for open assessments. Restrictions on AI use apply to secure, supervised assessments used to confirm if students have met specific learning outcomes.

Refer to the assessment table above to see if AI is allowed, for assessments in this unit and check Canvas for full instructions on assessment tasks and AI use.

If you use AI, you must always acknowledge it. Misusing AI may lead to a breach of the Academic Integrity Policy.

Visit the Current Students website for more information on AI in assessments, including details on how to acknowledge its use.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

Academic integrity

The University expects students to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

Our website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. This includes advice on how to avoid common breaches of academic integrity. Ensure that you have completed the Academic Honesty Education Module (AHEM) which is mandatory for all commencing coursework students

Penalties for serious breaches can significantly impact your studies and your career after graduation. It is important that you speak with your unit coordinator if you need help with completing assessments.

Visit the Current Students website for more information on AI in assessments, including details on how to acknowledge its use.

Learning support

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

Support for students

The Support for Students Policy reflects the University’s commitment to supporting students in their academic journey and making the University safe for students. It is important that you read and understand this policy so that you are familiar with the range of support services available to you and understand how to engage with them.

The University uses email as its primary source of communication with students who need support under the Support for Students Policy. Make sure you check your University email regularly and respond to any communications received from the University.

Learning resources and detailed information about weekly assessment and learning activities can be accessed via Canvas. It is essential that you visit your unit of study Canvas site to ensure you are up to date with all of your tasks.

If you are having difficulties completing your studies, or are feeling unsure about your progress, we are here to help. You can access the support services offered by the University at any time:

Support and Services (including health and wellbeing services, financial support and learning support)
Course planning and administration
Meet with an Academic Adviser

Weekly schedule

WK	Topic	Learning activity
Week 01	Co-creating the queer cinema classroom (no screening this week)	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 02	Screening: Orlando, My Political Biography (dir. Paul B. Preciado, France, 2023), preceded by I am Kai (Bee Cruse, Australia, 2023)	Practical (3 hr)
Week 02	Queer Now & Then	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 03	Screening: Frangipani (dir. Visakesa Chandrasekaram, Sri Lanka, 2014)	Practical (3 hr)
Week 03	Representation Matters* with film-maker Visakesa Chandrasekaram	Forum (2 hr)
Week 04	Screening: Portrait of a Lady on Fire (dir. Céline Sciamma, France, 2019)	Practical (3 hr)
Week 04	Cultural capital	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 05	Screening: Circumstance (dir. Maryam Keshavarz, France/US/Hong Kong, 2011)	Practical (3 hr)
Week 05	Global flows	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 06	Screening: The Iron Ladies [Satree lek] (dir. Yongyoot Thongkongtoon, Thailand, 2000)	Practical (3 hr)
Week 06	Translations	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 07	Screening: Fresh Kill (dir. Shu Lea Cheang, UK/US, 1994)	Practical (3 hr)
Week 07	Recovery	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 08	Screening: short film program, see Canvas	Practical (3 hr)
Week 08	Curation* with artist/curator EO Gill	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 09	Screening: Witches Faggots Dykes and Poofters (dir. Digby Duncan, and the One in Seven Collective, Australia, 1980); Riot (dir. Jeffrey Walker, Australia, 2018)	Practical (3 hr)
Week 09	History & memory	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 10	Screening: Looking for Langston (dir. Isaac Julien, UK, 1989); Brother to Brother (dir. Rodney Evans, US, 2004)	Practical (3 hr)
Week 10	Fabulations	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 11	Screening: Blue (dir. Derek Jarman et al, UK, 1993) preceded by DES!RE (dir. Campbell X, UK, 2017)	Practical (3 hr)
Week 11	Bearing witness	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 12	Screening: Rūrangi (dir. Max Currie, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2020)	Practical (3 hr)
Week 12	Indigiqueer	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 13	It's a wrap! Final plenary session	Forum (2 hr)

Attendance and class requirements

TUTORIALS AND PLENARY SESSIONS (latter are called 'Forum' in the UoS outline)

As per the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Resolutions: Coursework Awards clause 9, students are required to attend 90% of timetabled activities.

***WEEK ONE TUTORIAL: You are required to attend the tutorial in the first week of semester. Once you have your timetable, make sure to put this in your diary, and also organise any returning flights so that you are here the week beginning Monday 4 August. There will be a participation assessment (group, 5%) during this tutorial. More importantly, you are being invited to become part of the FILM3005 Queer Cinema learning community, and to contribute to the process of creating a fun, inclusive, engaged and stimulating educational space. Special consideration applies if due to illness or other misadventure you are not able to attend this tutorial.

TUTORIALS: There are 10 x 2-hour tutorials across the semester, running weeks 1-2, 4-7, and 9-12.

PLENARY SESSIONS: In weeks 3, 8 and 13, 3 x 2-hour whole-of-cohort plenary sessions (listed as ‘forum’ activity in the unit of study outline); all are important, because either we will be collectively welcoming and talking with visiting speakers, or you will be working collaboratively to support each other’s projects.

SCREENINGS: You are encouraged to attend and participate in the weekly screenings, weeks 2-12, as part of developing individually and collectively the values, dispositions, relational and collaborative skills that this unit seeks to cultivate (see the learning outcomes in the unit of study outline). Each week, the lecturer or tutor will introduce the film or films, and there will be opportunity for discussion. Screenings are a vital opportunity to experience films together with an audience. They are a kind of embodied, participant-observer and autoethnographic research that may contribute to your assessments in the unit. To be clear, screenings are not compulsory and no attendance will be taken.

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

WEEK 1 CO-CREATING THE QUEER CINEMA CLASSROOM

No screening this week.

Schoonover, Karl, and Rosalind Galt. “Introduction: Queer, World, Cinema.” In Queer Cinema in the World, 1–34. Durham: Duke University Press, 2016. Read excerpt pp.1-18.

WEEK 2 QUEER CINEMA NOW & THEN

Orlando, My Political Biography (dir. Paul B. Preciado, France, 2023) 1h 38m, preceded by I am Kai (dir. Bee Cruse, Australia, 2023) 10m

Rich, B. Ruby. “After the New Queer Cinema: Intersectionality vs. Fascism.” In The Oxford Handbook of Queer Cinema, edited by Ronald Gregg and Amy Villarejo, 2–14. Oxford University Press, 2021. 13pp

Rich, B. Ruby. “Interview: Paul B. Preciado, the Filmmaker.” Film Quarterly 77, no. 3 (March, 2024): 69–78. 10pp

Paul B. Preciado. 2020. “Orlando on the Road.” In An Apartment on Uranus, by Paul B. Preciado, 56–57. London: Fitzcarraldo Editions. 2pp

WEEK 3 REPRESENTATION MATTERS*—VISITING SPEAKER VISAKESA CHANDRASEKARAM

Frangipani (dir. Visakesa Chandrasekaram, Sri Lanka, 2014) 1h 30m

Schoonover, Karl, and Rosalind Galt. “1 Figures in the World: The Geopolitics of the Transcultural Queer.” In Queer Cinema in the World, 35–78. Durham: Duke University Press, 2016. 44pp

WEEK 4 CULTURAL CAPITAL

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (dir. Céline Sciamma, France, 2019) 2h 2m

Stacey, Jackie. “Lesbian Cinema without Lesbians: Portraits, Lovers, Siblings.” Screen 63, no. 3 (2022): 279–308. 29pp

Vincendeau, Ginette. “‘Why Has Céline Sciamma Become so Iconic?’: The Auteure as Celebrity.” French Screen Studies 23, no. 2–3 (July 3, 2023): 231–47. 14pp

WEEK 5 GLOBAL FLOWS

Circumstance (dir. Maryam Keshavarz, France/US/Hong Kong, 2011) 1h 47m

Schoonover, Karl, and Rosalind Galt. “2 A Worldly Affair: Queer Film Festivals and Global Space.” In Queer Cinema in the World, 79–117. Durham: Duke University Press, 2016. Read excerpt pp.79-103. 24pp

White, Patricia. “Changing Circumstances: Global Flows of Lesbian Cinema.” In Global Cinema Networks, edited by Tami Williams and Elena Gorfinkel, 159–78. Ithaca, NY: Rutgers University Press, 2018. 19pp

WEEK 6 TRANSLATIONS

The Iron Ladies [Satree lek] (dir. Yongyoot Thongkongtoon, Thailand, 2000) 1h 44m

Ingawanij, May Adadol, and Richard Lowell MacDonald. “The Value of an Impoverished Aesthetic: The Iron Ladies and Its Audiences.” South East Asia Research 13, no. 1 (2005): 43–56. 13pp

Leung, Helen Hok-Sze. “Always in Translation: Trans Cinema across Languages.” TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly 3, no. 3–4 (2016): 433–47. 15pp

WEEK 7 RECOVERY

Fresh Kill (dir. Shu Lea Cheang, UK/US, 1994) 1h 20m, preceded by Big Bang (Song of the Cosmic Hobo) (dir. Harry Dodge, US, 2016) 11m

From the GLQ “Queer Media Manifestos” dossier: Cheang, Shu Lea. “This Is Normal.” GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 19, no. 4 (2013): 569–569. 1p

Cheang, Shu Lea, and Alexandra Juhasz. “When Are You Going to Catch Up with Me?” Camera Obscura: Feminism, Culture, and Media Studies 35, no. 3 (105) (2020): 116–31. 15pp

Schleitwiler, Vince, Abby Sun, and Rea Tajiri. “Messy, Energetic, Intense: A Roundtable Conversation among New York’s Asian American Experimental Filmmakers of the Eighties with Roddy Bogawa, Daryl Chin, Shu Lea Cheang, and Rea Tajiri.” Film Quarterly 73, no. 3 (2020): 66–78. 12pp

WEEK 8 CURATION* - VISITING SPEAKER ARTIST/CURATOR EO GILL

Short film program—details to be announced on Canvas.

Thain, Alanna, and Dayna McLeod. “Cinema’s Missing Bodies.” Framework 62, no. 2 (2021): 223–41. 18pp plus interview audio.

WEEK 9 HISTORY & MEMORY

Witches Faggots Dykes and Poofters (dir. Digby Duncan, and the One in Seven Collective, Australia, 1980) 45m

Riot (dir. Jeffrey Walker, Australia, 2018) 1h 45m

Arrow, Michelle. “History-Making at the 2018 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras: Witches, Faggots, Dykes and Poofters, the Museum of Love and Protest, the 2018 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade, and Riot.” Australian Historical Studies 49, no. 4 (October 2, 2018): 493–500. 7pp

Chandra, Shiva, Tim Wark, and Loc Nguyen. “Local LGBTQ+ Legacies: Uncovering Migrant and Multicultural Contributions to Sydney’s LGBTQ+ History,” 2024. 23pp

Dunks, Glenn. “Pride in Protest: The ABC’s Riot and the Birth of Mardi Gras.” Metro : Media & Education Magazine, no. 197 (2018): 43–47. 4pp

McKinnon, Scott. “Witches, Faggots, Dykes and Poofters.” In Making Film and Television Histories: Australia and New Zealand, edited by James E. Bennett and Rebecca Beirne, 225–30. London: I.B.Tauris, 2011. 5pp

WEEK 10 FABULATIONS

Looking for Langston (dir. Isaac Julien, UK, 1989) 45m

Brother to Brother (dir. Rodney Evans, US, 2004) 1h 34m

Keeling, Kara. “Brother to Brother and the ‘Place’ of Film in Black Queer History.” In The Oxford Handbook of Queer Cinema, edited by Ronald Gregg and Amy Villarejo, 766–76. New York: Oxford University Press, 2021. 10pp

Park, Samuel. “All the Sad Young Men: Whiteness as Melancholic Haunting in Black Queer Independent Film.” Black Camera 2, no. 2 (2011): 63–79. 16pp

Saidiya Hartman. 2019. “Mistah Beauty, the Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Woman, Select Scenes from a Film Never Cast by Oscar Micheaux, Harlem, 1920s.” In Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Social Upheaval, by Saidiya V. Hartman, 193–202. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 9pp

WEEK 11 BEARING WITNESS

Blue (dir. Derek Jarman et al, UK, 1993) 1h 19m, preceded by DES!RE (dir. Campbell X, UK, 2017) 9m

Hallas, Roger. “Sound, Image, and the Corporeal Impliction of Witnessing.” Reframing Bodies: AIDS, Bearing Witness, and the Queer Moving Image, 218-240. Duke University Press, 2009. 22pp

Wollen, Peter. “Blue.” New Left Review, no. 6 (Nov/Dec 2000). https://newleftreview.org/issues/II6/articles/peter-wollen-blue. 19pp

WEEK 12 INDIGIQUEER

Rūrangi (dir. Max Currie, Aotearoa New Zealand, 2020) 1h 27m, preceded by Lessons in Baby Dyke theory (dir. Theo Jean Cuthand, Canada, 1995) 3m

Christian, Dorothy. Dawsoma: Making Meaning - Victor Masayesva, Jr. Retrospective, ImagiNATIVE Festival 2019. Introductory essay. 3pp

Smith, Jo. “Indigenous Insistence on Film.” In Routledge Handbook of Critical Indigenous Studies, edited by Brendan Hokowitu, Aileen Moreton-Robinson, Linda Tuhiwai-Smith, Chris Andersen, and Steve Larkin, 488–500. London: Routledge, 2020. 12pp

WEEK 13 IT'S A WRAP!*

No viewing or reading this week.

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

Outcomes
Graduate qualities

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

LO1. Demonstrate an understanding of contemporary queer and trans cinemas, including the intellectual, historical, and cultural processes that shape their production, aesthetics, distributions and receptions.
LO2. Develop a self-reflexive understanding of scholarly, practitioner and activist contributions to, reflections on and interventions in cultural processes of representation, reception, and other forms of social impact and change.
LO3. Enhance individual capacity as a cultural agent to build and sustain collegial relationships in order to engage in, work effectively on, contribute to and lead collective projects.
LO4. Develop the personal dispositions and skills to generate, research, design and propose projects that offer perceptive, inventive and challenging insights on the current state and history of queer and trans cinemas.
LO5. Develop a high standard of written communication skills oriented to different scholarly or specialist audiences as well as general audiences interested in film and video.

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1	Depth of disciplinary expertise Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.
GQ2	Critical thinking and problem solving Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.
GQ3	Oral and written communication Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.
GQ4	Information and digital literacy Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.
GQ5	Inventiveness Generating novel ideas and solutions.
GQ6	Cultural competence Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.
GQ7	Interdisciplinary effectiveness Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.
GQ8	Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.
GQ9	Influence Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes	Graduate qualities
Learning outcomes

Responding to student feedback

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

Feedback from the first offering of the unit in Semester 2, 2024, has informed some revisions to assessment in this year's offering.

Additional information

Site visit guidelines

See Canvas for any site visit guidelines.

Disclaimer

The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units, including where there are low enrolment numbers.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.

FILM3005: Queer Cinema

Semester 2, 2025 [Normal day] - Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI)

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Support for students

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

WEEK 1 CO-CREATING THE QUEER CINEMA CLASSROOM

WEEK 2 QUEER CINEMA NOW & THEN

WEEK 3 REPRESENTATION MATTERS*—VISITING SPEAKER VISAKESA CHANDRASEKARAM

WEEK 4 CULTURAL CAPITAL

WEEK 5 GLOBAL FLOWS

WEEK 6 TRANSLATIONS

WEEK 7 RECOVERY

WEEK 8 CURATION* - VISITING SPEAKER ARTIST/CURATOR EO GILL

WEEK 9 HISTORY & MEMORY

WEEK 10 FABULATIONS

WEEK 11 BEARING WITNESS

WEEK 12 INDIGIQUEER

WEEK 13 IT'S A WRAP!*

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Additional information

Additional information

Site visit guidelines

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links