Thomas Waugh is a Canadian critic, lecturer, author, actor, and activist, best known for his extensive work on documentary film and eroticism in the history of

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

cinema and art. A professor emeritus at

Concordia University Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...

, he taught 41 years in the

film studies Film studies is an academic discipline that deals with various theoretical, historical, and critical approaches to cinema as an art form and a medium. It is sometimes subsumed within media studies and is often compared to television studies. ...

program of the School of Cinema and held a research chair in documentary film and sexual representation. He was also the director of the Concordia HIV/AIDS Project, 1993-2017, a program providing a platform for research and conversations involving HIV/AIDS in the Montréal area.

Career

A graduate of

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, Waugh wrote film criticism and history articles for publications such as ''

Jump Cut A jump cut is a cut (transition), cut in film editing in which a single continuous sequential shot of a subject is broken into two parts, with a piece of footage being removed in order to render the effect of jumping forward in time. Camera posit ...

'' and ''

The Body Politic ''The Body Politic'' was a Canadian monthly magazine, which was published from 1971 to 1987.

'' before publishing his first book, ''Show Us Life: Towards a History and Aesthetics of the Committed Documentary'', in 1984. His 1996 book, ''Hard to Imagine: Gay Male Eroticism in Photography and Film from Their Beginnings to Stonewall'', took 13 years to research and write. Its release was delayed eight full months after its initial planned publication date, due to difficulty finding a printer willing to handle the book's sexually explicit

homoerotic Homoeroticism is sexual attraction between members of the same sex, either male–male or female–female. The concept differs from the concept of homosexuality: it refers specifically to the desire itself, which can be temporary, whereas "homose ...

imagery. He is a two-time

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ literature.The awards were instituted i ...

nominee, garnering nominations in the Visual Arts category at the

15th Lambda Literary Awards The 15th Lambda Literary Awards were held in 2003 to honour works of LGBT literature published in 2002. Special awards Nominees and winners External links 15th Lambda Literary Awards {{Lambda Literary Awards Lambda Literary Awards Lambda ...

in 2003 for ''Out/Lines: Underground Gay Graphics From Before Stonewall'', and at the 17th Lambda Literary Awards in 2005 for ''Lust Unearthed: Vintage Gay Graphics from the DuBek Collection''. He is also the recipient of the SCMS (Society for Cinema and Media Studies)

Katherine Singer Kovács Katherine Singer Kovács (1946-1989) was an American film studies academicGottesman, Ron. ''Homage to Kitty Singer Kovacs.'' Cinema Journal 30, no. 3 (1991): 3–5. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1224926.''In memory of Katherine Singer Kovacs (1946� ...

Book Award for ''The Conscience of Cinema: The Work of Joris Ivens, 1912-1989''. Waugh has also served on the board of Cinema Politica, has been active with the Quebec Gay Archives, and is coeditor with

Matthew Hays Matthew Hays is a Canadians, Canadian film critic, writer, film festival programmer and academic. He won a Lambda Literary Award for his 2007 book ''The View from Here: Conversations with Gay and Lesbian Filmmakers''. Hays teaches film studies, j ...

of the ''Queer Film Classics'' series of 19 monographs on LGBT film, published by

Arsenal Pulp Press Arsenal Pulp Press is a Canadian independent book publishing company, based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company publishes a broad range of titles in both fiction and non-fiction, focusing primarily on underrepresented genres such as und ...

. In 2013 Waugh,

Ryan Conrad Ryan may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ryan (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) *Ryan (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) Places Australia * Division of Ryan, an electo ...

and Cinema Politica raised funds on Indiegogo to produce and distribute a documentary film about the Russian LGBT organization

Children-404 Children-404 is a Russian LGBTI online community on Facebook and on the social networking site VK. The establisher of the community is Lena Klimova, a journalist based in the city of Nizhny Tagil. She is the author of a series of articles on lesb ...

. In 2010, Waugh and filmmaker Kim Simard launched the Queer Media Database Canada-Québec, an online database project to collect and publish information about LGBT films and videos made in Canada and the personalities involved in their creation."Online database of queer Canadian movies launching at Toronto Pride"
''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', June 24, 2015. The project was based in part on his 2006 book ''The Romance of Transgression in Canada: Queering Sexualities, Nations, Cinemas''.

Works

*''Who Are We?, A Very Natural Thing, The Naked Civil Servant: Films By Gays For Gays'' (1977) *''Show Us Life: Towards a History and Aesthetics of the Committed Documentary'' (1984) *''Men's Pornography: Gay vs. Straight'' (1985) *''Hard to Imagine: Gay Male Eroticism in Photography and Film from Their Beginnings to Stonewall'' (1996) *''The Fruit Machine: Twenty Years of Writings on Queer Cinema'' (2000) *''Out/Lines: Underground Gay Graphics From Before Stonewall'' (2002) *''Lust Unearthed: Vintage Gay Graphics from the DuBek Collection'' (2004) *''The Romance of Transgression in Canada: Queering Sexualities, Nations, Cinemas'' (2006) *''Gay Art: A Historic Collection'' (2006) *''Comin' At Ya! The Homoerotic 3-D Photographs of Denny Denfield'' (2007, with David L. Chapman) *''Montreal Main'' (2010, with Jason Garrison) *''

Challenge for Change Challenge for Change (French: ''Societé Nouvelle'') was a participatory film and video project created by the National Film Board of Canada in 1967, the Canadian Centennial. Active until 1980, Challenge for Change used film and video production t ...

: Activist Documentary at the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

'' (2010, with Michael Baker and Ezra Winton) *''The Right to Play Oneself: Looking Back on Documentary Film'' (2011) *''The Perils of Pedagogy: The Works of

John Greyson John Greyson (born March 13, 1960) is a Canadian director, writer, video artist, producer, and political activist, whose work frequently deals with queer characters and themes. He was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge in ...

'' (2013, with

Brenda Longfellow Brenda Longfellow (born 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker known for her biographies of female historic figures. Since 2007, Longfellow's focus in her films has been on environmental issues. Biography Brenda Longfellow was born in Copper Cliff, On ...

and Scott MacKenzie) *''The Conscience of Cinema: The Works of

Joris Ivens Georg Henri Anton "Joris" Ivens (18 November 1898 – 28 June 1989) was a Dutch documentary filmmaker. Among the notable films he directed or co-directed are '' A Tale of the Wind'', '' The Spanish Earth'', ''Rain'', ''...A Valparaiso'', ''M ...

, 1912-1989'' (2016) *''I Confess! Constructing the Sexual Self In the Internet Age'' (2019, edited with Brandon Arroyo)

References

External links

Thomas Waugh
faculty biography at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waugh, Thomas 1948 births Living people Canadian art historians Canadian film critics Canadian film historians Canadian male non-fiction writers Columbia University alumni Concordia University faculty Canadian gay writers Historians of LGBT topics Writers from London, Ontario