Filmographies as archives : on Richard Dyer's list-making in Gays and Film

Abstract

I was asked to contribute a retrospective book review of a canonical film studies text on archives, but instead offered a look back at a crucial archive for queer cinema historians: the filmography at the end of the two editions of Richard Dyer's edited volume 'Gays and Film' (1977/1984). I argue in this short essay that the filmography serves as a vital archival trace of political debates occuring at the time of its assembly.