Author Spotlight

B. Ruby Rich

B. Ruby Rich is professor emerita at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the former editor in chief of the journal Film Quarterly. She is the author of New Queer Cinema: The Director’s Cut (2013) and Chick Flicks: Theories and Memories of the Feminist Film Movement (1998). She is the recipient of the Distinguished Career Achievement Award from the Society for Cinema and Media Studies and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Documentary Branch. She lives in Paris and San Francisco.

5 Results
Kiss of the Spider Woman: Revolutionary Transgressions

A resounding critical and popular success upon its release, Héctor Babenco’s adaptation of a literary masterpiece by Manuel Puig was an unprecedented cinematic fusion of a radical politics of sex with a sexual politics of revolution.

By B. Ruby Rich

Essays— Jan 29, 2026
The Perverse Magic of Long Ago: John Greyson on His Landmark Film Lilies

The Canadian filmmaker and artist reflects on his award-winning 1996 breakthrough, a work of voluptuous style and fierce political commitment that remains a landmark of New Queer Cinema.

By B. Ruby Rich

Interviews— Jun 10, 2024
Desert Hearts: The Thrill of It All

Donna Deitch combined tropes of lesbian pulp romance with the sheen of mainstream filmmaking in her beloved debut feature.


By B. Ruby Rich

Essays— Nov 14, 2017
Blue Is the Warmest Color: Feeling Blue

A film of explosive passions, Abdellatif Kechiche’s coming-of-age triumph is about much more than just physical pleasure.

By B. Ruby Rich

Essays— Feb 24, 2014
The Times of Harvey Milk: Making History

This pioneering portrait of queer history is an archive, a political case study, urban geography, melodrama, and cathartic expiation, as well as a dazzling exemplar of 16 mm celluloid.

By B. Ruby Rich

Essays— Mar 22, 2011