Filmcollege: Queer Cinema + But I’m a Cheerleader ¹⁹⁹⁹

In this film lecture, Roosje van der Kamp explores the idea of queer cinema beyond questions of representation and visibility. While explicitly queer characters appear on screen more frequently than ever before, the lecture asks whether the presence of LGBTQ+ stories alone is enough to make a film truly queer.

Together, we will examine whether there is such a thing as a distinct queer gaze or sensibility, and how it manifests itself in contemporary cinema. Drawing on concepts such as camp, performativity and hauntology, Roosje will discuss films including I Saw the TV Glow (2024), Love Lies Bleeding (2024) and Drive-Away Dolls (2024), exploring the ways in which they challenge conventional ideas about identity, desire and belonging.

After the lecture, we will screen But I'm a Cheerleader (1999), Jamie Babbit's cult classic, whose playful use of colour, satire and camp continues to make it one of the defining films of modern queer cinema. In this film we follow the all-American cheerleader Megan, who doesn't like kissing her boyfriend very much. Her parents suspect she is lesbian and sent her to a conversion camp. Here she discovers love, identity, and the courage to be herself.