Matt Connolly, Ph.D.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison
• M.A. in Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison
• B.A. in Film Studies and English from Wesleyan University

Biography:

Matt Connolly received his MA and PhD in Communication Arts with a focus in film studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He researches the aesthetic, industrial, and cultural histories of LGBTQ cinema in the U.S. His scholarly work has been published in JCMS (formerly Cinema Journal), The Velvet Light Trap, and Spectator, as well as in current or forthcoming edited collections. He has also written film criticism which has appeared in numerous publications, including Film Comment and Reverse Shot (the publication for the Museum of the Moving Image). He is the book reviews editor for New Review of Film and Television Studies and has served on the leadership board of the Queer and Trans Caucus within the Society for Cinema and Media Studies.  His current project analyzes directorial persona and cultural reputation in the career of John Waters.  Matt Connolly received his MA and PhD in Communication Arts with a focus in film studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He researches the aesthetic, industrial, and cultural histories of LGBTQ cinema in the U.S. He is the co-author (with Dr. Chelsea McCracken) of 100 Queer Films Since Stonewall, which will be published by Bloomsbury in May 2025. His scholarly work has been published in JCMS, The Velvet Light Trap, and Spectator, as well as in current and forthcoming edited collections. He has also written film criticism which has appeared in numerous publications, including Film Comment and Reverse Shot (the publication for the Museum of the Moving Image). He is the editor-in-chief of New Review of Film and Television Studies and has served on the leadership board of the Queer and Trans Caucus within the Society for Cinema and Media Studies.  His current project analyzes directorial persona and cultural reputation in the career of John Waters.  

Recent Publications:

“A Very Natural Thing (1974),” in Screening American Independent Film, eds. Justin Wyatt and Wyatt Phillips (London and New York: Routledge, 2023), 186–194.

“Timothée Chalamet: Refashioning Hollywood Masculinity,” in Stellar Transformations: Movie Stars of the 2010s, edited by Steven Rybin (New Brunswick, Camden, and Newark, NJ, and London: Rutgers University Press, 2022), 176–193.

“ACT UP Documentaries and the Question of Intermediate Archival Context,” The Velvet Light Trap 88 (Fall 2021): 71–82.

“Liberating the Screen: Gay and Lesbian Protests of LGBT Cinematic Representation, 1969–1974,” Cinema Journal 57, no. 2 (Winter 2018): 66–88.

“Solidification and Flux on the ‘Gay White Way:’ Gay Porn Theaters in Post-Stonewall New York City,” Spectator 37, no. 1 (2017): 32–39.

Recent Film Criticism:

"In Dreams Begin Responsibilities: Matt Connolly Revisits Kaboom," Reverse Shot, November 29, 2023, https://reverseshot.org/symposiums/entry/3163/kaboom_revisited.

 “Digital Art: Matt Connolly on The Royal Tenenbaums,” Reverse Shot, February 22, 2022, http://reverseshot.org/symposiums/entry/2907/royal_tenenbaums.

 “Return to the Sea: Matt Connolly on Y tu mamá también,” Reverse Shot, January 29, 2021, http://www.reverseshot.org/symposiums/entry/2757/ytumama.