Contemporary Western gay male cinema is going ‘straight to the front row’ at two-day conference

Contemporary Western gay male cinema has endured a shift in both representational strategies and a boom in popularity within both mainstream and independent spheres, since 2010. With films like Weekend, Call me By Your Name, God’s Own Country, Moonlight and Love, Simon gaining increasing exposure.

This two-day conference co-organised by the University of Northampton’s Anthony Stepniak- a PhD student and associate lecturer in film and media, and Connor Winterton – PhD student and associate lecturer at Birmingham City University, aims to investigate both independent and mainstream contemporary Western gay male cinema, and its many facets and iterations.

Kate Williams, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Science and Technology, who is funding the conference, stated how she “is very pleased to support what promises to be a thought provoking, relevant and research rich event”.

The conference includes two keynote speakers, Dr Andrew Moore from Manchester Metropolitan University and Professor Richard Dyer of Kings College London. The conference will also include a special screening of the BAFTA winning film God’s Own Country, Directed by Francis Lee, at the Northampton Filmhouse.

Anthony Stepniak, conference organiser said: “It is a very exciting time to be able to hold an event like this. Western gay male cinema has started stepping into the mainstream in more ways than one and interrogation into this from an academic perspective is timely. Both Connor and I are very lucky to be able to hold this event at the new Waterside campus and have such esteemed keynote speakers”.

The conference welcomes contributions from postgraduate researchers, early career academics and established scholars, from Film, Media, and Cultural Studies more broadly, and we of course welcome papers from a queer, feminist or intersectional lens too.

Follow the conference site on Twitter @STFRUoN

More information can be found via the conference call for papers here.  The submission deadline for the conference is the 5 November 2018.

Email both conference organisers  Anthony.stepniak2@northampton.ac.uk and connor.winterton@mail.bcu.ac.uk for more information.