This course offers an introduction to queer and feminist film studies, focusing on several key genres, directors, and themes in transnational queer and feminist film cultures and scholarship. We will explore what makes a particular film or media practice “queer” and/or “feminist,” and what role media production, distribution, and exhibition have in the process. We will examine constructions of sexuality, gender, race, and nation in a variety of films and investigate how transnational queer and feminist cinemas can both participate in and resist dominant ideas about sexuality, imperialism, race, gender, politics, and community. The course is not an introduction to film studies, but does spend time introducing basic film concepts (editing, cinematography, mise-en-scène, etc.) so that students can apply them to the films we watch. In the course, students will learn to incorporate formal film analysis into an analysis of ideology, production, circulation, and consumption, and will develop the skills to construct compelling arguments about the politics of cinema. No prior film studies experience is required.