Homo Pomo: The New Queer Cinema

In her essay Homo Pomo: The New Queer Cinema, B. Ruby Rich discusses homosexuality as it finds its own recognized foothold in the film industry with the introduction of queer film. Rich explores this new trend and presents us with the excitement of this new movement but also addresses the pitfalls that are present within it as well. She examines the response to the new movement of queer film at three of the most prestigious and influential film festivals of our time, Sundance, Amsterdam and Toronto Film Festival.
It is within these three venues that the Rich was able to measure how ready the film industry and its audience is for this type of genre, and it seems as though everyone was quite ready and eager for it. The response at all three festivals was incredibly positive and very excited even though the aesthetic of the films widely ranged from artist to artist. The common thread was the style. Though Rich is also excited about this new revelation in film she is also quick to point out the very visible disparity between the amount gay and lesbian film being shown at these festival. The majority of films that won over the critics were produced by gay white men. Though it is fair to say that there were some incredible films that were produced by gay women, such as Laurie Lynd’s R.S.V.P., the majority of the films that earned accolades were produced by men. It seems even at the film festival in Amsterdam that expectations fell short. Though lesbians were represented more prevalently in Amsterdam they did not get the same kind of press as the other festivals gave to the gay films. It was in Amsterdam that one could see that women were able and willing to reinvent their genre. As Rich states, “the girls have to be alchemists.” Lesbian film and video is not being recognized the same way that works produced by gay men are; therefore they must work to reinvent themselves to find a way to break through. I get the feeling that the current industry is open to