CFP: Interwar Cinema and Queer History: Researching the LGBTQ+ Past Symposium
Call for Papers
Interwar Cinema and Queer History: Researching the LGBTQ+ Past Symposium
University of Southampton
23 June 2026
A one-day symposium will be held at the University of Southampton on Tuesday, 23 June 2026. This event will bring together scholars working on British (and transnational) interwar cinema and queer history to network, explore research interests, and identify key themes and gaps in scholarship, as well as to discuss the archival sources and challenges involved in researching the LGBTQ+ past.
The 1910s-1930s have been studied as a crucial time both for the development of cinema as a mass medium and for the formation of modern queer identities and subjectivities. While the links between film and queer modes of gender and sexuality during this period have been explored in some national contexts – including cinematic responses to the ‘pansy craze’ or lesbian visibility in the United States, or early queer and trans representations in Weimar-era German cinema – less is known about the place of film in queer interwar history in the UK. Although films and those working behind the camera were often highly mobile during these decades, less is also known about the role of films and film culture in mediating queer images and experiences across national borders.
This symposium invites proposals for 20-minute papers from anyone interested in exploring connections between interwar cinema and queer and trans histories in the UK and beyond. Topics can include but are by no means limited to:
- Queer/trans representations in interwar films – characters, narratives, spaces
- The work of LGBTQ+ people in front of or behind the camera
- Queer perspectives on film magazines, ephemera, film journalism and other promotion and reception practices
- Queer stars, celebrities, fans and audiences
- Policing queerness in cinema and media – censorship, scandals, intimidation and resistance
- Intersections of sexuality, gender, class and race
- Films as primary sources for queer and trans history
- Sharing approaches from feminist, trans and queer historiography
- Queer currents across interwar cinema, arts and entertainment – film, theatre, music, radio, literature, visual arts
- Camp and performance
- Film and queer/trans networks – local, national, international, imperial, colonial
- Transnational journeys – queer figures/images that cross national borders
- Neglected or forgotten figures and histories
- Archives and collections – researching interwar film and queer history
Please send abstracts of 200-300 words along with a short biography by Monday 20 April 2026 to Prof. Michael Williams at the University of Southampton and/or Dr. Chris O’Rourke at the University of Warwick.
Applicants will be informed on or before 6 May 2026.
This symposium is open to academics and researchers who are interested in the subject and will be in person only. Registration will be free, and lunch and tea/coffee will be provided.
If you have any questions, please contact the organisers on the above emails.