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| B. Ruby Rich | |
|---|---|
| Name | B. Ruby Rich |
| Birth date | 1946 |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Film critic, scholar, curator, professor |
| Known for | Coining "New Queer Cinema", film scholarship, festival programming |
B. Ruby Rich is an American film critic, scholar, curator, and educator known for coining the term "New Queer Cinema" and for influential work in film festivals, film studies, and cultural criticism. She has held academic posts and programming roles at major institutions and festivals, written for prominent periodicals, and curated programs that connected independent and international cinema with social movements and feminist, LGBTQ+, and diasporic communities. Her work bridges film theory, festival curation, and journalistic criticism, engaging with filmmakers, scholars, and institutions across North America, Europe, and Latin America.
Born in 1946, she attended universities where she studied literature and cultural studies, later completing graduate work that informed her interdisciplinary approach to cinema and criticism. Her formative years included exposure to the film cultures of New York City, Paris, and Buenos Aires, which shaped her interests in independent film, documentary, and transnational cinema. Influences included scholars and critics associated with New Left, Feminist movement, and film theorists from institutions such as University of California, Berkeley, Columbia University, and New York University.
Her professional career spans magazine journalism, academic teaching, festival programming, and curatorial projects. She was an editor and columnist for publications including Village Voice, Sight & Sound, Film Comment, and The Nation, as well as contributing to journals connected with Cinema Studies programs at universities like University of California, Santa Cruz and San Francisco State University. As a festival programmer she worked with organizations such as the Sundance Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the New York Film Festival, and served in leadership roles at institutions like the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the San Francisco International Film Festival.
She coined the phrase "New Queer Cinema" in a 1992 essay, linking filmmakers, movements, and texts across contexts including the work of Todd Haynes, Wim Wenders, Pedro Almodóvar, Derek Jarman, Isaac Julien, and Jean-Luc Godard. Her theoretical contributions engage with debates propelled by scholars and activists associated with GLAAD, Stonewall, ACT UP, and academic networks tied to Women’s Studies and Queer theory at institutions such as Rutgers University and Brown University. She situates independent and diasporic filmmakers—such as Chantal Akerman, Agnès Varda, Spike Lee, Abbas Kiarostami, Lucrecia Martel, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and Asghar Farhadi—within global circuits of exhibition that include Berlin International Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, and Venice Film Festival. Her criticism synthesizes perspectives from film scholars connected to André Bazin, Laura Mulvey, bell hooks, Stuart Hall, and Homi K. Bhabha to address representation, form, and cultural politics.
Her books and essays appear alongside curatorial projects and festival retrospectives. Publications include edited volumes and essays that intersect with works by Susan Sontag, John Berger, James Baldwin, Gayle Rubin, and Judith Butler. She curated retrospectives and programs featuring filmmakers such as Marta Minujín-era Argentine cinema, the films of Pedro Costa, Fernando Solanas, Agustí Villaronga, and programs on Latin American cinema alongside showcases of African cinema including works by Ousmane Sembène and Souleymane Cissé. She also organized screenings and symposia centered on documentary traditions linked to Ken Loach, Frederick Wiseman, and Agnès Varda as well as LGBTQ+ themed programs featuring films by Chris Marker, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and Gus Van Sant.
Her work has been recognized by film and academic institutions, receiving honors tied to organizations like the National Film Critics Circle, the Film Society of Lincoln Center, and universities that award distinctions in cinema studies and humanities. She has been invited to serve on juries at Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, and Rotterdam International Film Festival, and has received fellowships and awards associated with cultural bodies such as the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and national arts councils in the United States and Latin America.
Her legacy includes mentoring generations of critics, programmers, and scholars linked to programs at School of the Art Institute of Chicago, University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, and Goldsmiths, University of London. Her influence persists through the continued citation of "New Queer Cinema" in scholarship and media coverage, festival programming that foregrounds marginalized voices, and archival projects at institutions like the Museum of Modern Art and the British Film Institute. She remains a touchstone for discussions that involve filmmakers, festivals, scholars, and activists across the global film community.
Category:American film critics Category:Film curators