Queer Cinema Austria 1906-2022

Queer Cinema Austria: Assembling LGBTIQ* viewing strategies of film, video and television production in Austria, 19062022 (QCA) seeks to create an overdue history of LGBTIQ* viewing strategies of film, video, TV produced in Austria. Historical research, cultural/queer theory and empirical research (one-on-one interviews and group workshops) enables to describe diverse viewing strategies by LGBTIQ* audiences and to compile an inclusive corpus of all relevant works. We move away from a merely representational approach. QCA seeks to build theoretical foundations for historiographical work that (1) ensures a deconstruction of nationality and national identity, that (2) takes into account queer theories of time to shift notions of past, present and futurity into of potentiality and that (3) avoids the trap of homonationalism which denotes the wrongful claim of liberal attitudes towards LGBTIQ* communities in discriminatory legal settings. Resting on these theoretical foundations, our qualitative empirical approach is grounded in a research design analysing reception strategies like for example subtexting, reading against the grain, appropriation and disidentification among others to deepen our understanding of how viewing strategies function in relation to our (provisional) corpus. Through this method, the project assembles Queer Cinema Austria through viewers perspectives, an innovative approach that guarantees an interdisciplinary vantage point and thorough validation of our findings. QCA is the first project to consider all motion pictures professionally produced in Austria since 1906 that make queer spaces possible, comprising cinematic releases of all film genres (feature length, short, documentary, animated) with Austrian production or co-production credits, all films and videos produced at Austrian art academies, all TV productions relevant. We will make the filmographic data of this expansive corpus available in an interactive, open access database. A peer-reviewed, open-access, two-volume final publication will contain a history of queer cinema Austria from the vantage point of LGBTIQ* viewing strategies (written by the project team) and a collection of around 60 academic film, video and TV case-studies (edited by the project team). Primary researchers involved: Mag. Dr. Andrea B. Braidt, MLitt (PI), Assoc.-Prof. Dr. Nicole Kandioler (Co-PI) Mag. Jul Tirler, MA (post-doc), Andrea Salanki, MA BA (pre-doc)