Shoppers and scholars are reaching for two striking books that recast queer screen culture: Laura Horak’s Trans Cinema and Jacob Engelberg’s Cinemas of Bisexual Transgression offer fresh lenses on trans- and bisexual-made films, why they matter, and how they reshape representation and possibility.

Essential Takeaways

  • Two new voices: Laura Horak and Jacob Engelberg publish major books this year that centre trans and bisexual perspectives in film studies.
  • Different but complementary: Horak focuses on films made by trans creators; Engelberg reads bisexual transgression as an analytical tool to upend the straight–gay binary.
  • Practical frameworks: Horak includes histories, archives, and screening lists; Engelberg supplies a bisexual-critical reading practice aimed at contesting monosexism.
  • Ethics and accountability: Horak foregrounds transparent research practices and collaboration with trans and BIPOC scholars, reflecting a justice-oriented approach.
  • Accessible entry points: Both books mix case studies, from documentaries about trans families to 1970s exploitation cinema, so readers can see theory applied to lively, often surprising examples.

A bold opening: trans-made films as worldmaking

Horak stakes her claim early: films made by trans people do more than reflect experience, they create imaginative possibilities, and they can feel palpably hopeful and generative on screen. Her book structures that claim with two parts , foundations and themes , and the result is both encyclopaedic and intimate, moving from festival histories to tender portraits of trans childhood and family. According to Kirkus Reviews and academic publishers, this is a careful, research-rich project, and Horak’s inclusion of archival material and filmmaker interviews gives the reader a tactile sense of production and craft. If you’re new to trans media, start with Horak’s recommended screenings at the end of each chapter; they’re a ready-made viewing guide that makes the theory practical and pleasurable.

Moving beyond good/bad representation debates

Both authors ask us to stop treating queer screen work like a simple moral test , is it “good” or “bad” for the community , and instead to analyse how films do work in the world. Engelberg’s project is especially useful here: by attending to bisexual transgression , characters who flout social and cinematic rules , he teases out how ambiguity on screen can unsettle binary thinking. This approach matters beyond academia; interpreting films for nuance helps viewers resist reductive headlines and understand why a controversial character might still open up fresh possibilities. For practical viewing, try watching a familiar film twice: once for plot and once looking for moments that resist neat categorisation , gestures, glances, or scenes that complicate identity.

Bisexual capacity: a tool for new readings

Engelberg introduces “bisexual capacity” as a concept you can use at home or in a seminar: it’s an openness to multiple desiring possibilities that destabilises fixed sexual categories. He applies this to everything from 1970s exploitation vampires to the contested readings of Basic Instinct, showing how bisexuality can be a lens as powerful as race or gender in film analysis. According to academic descriptions and publisher notes, his style is more traditionally scholarly, but the examples are lively and cinematic, which keeps the chapters readable and vivid. A quick practical tip: when films present ambiguous attraction or fluid desire, try naming that bisexual capacity out loud , it changes how the scene sits with you.

Ethics, reflexivity and research practice

Horak is unusually candid about the ethics of researching trans communities as a cis scholar, and she details steps she took , hiring trans and BIPOC research assistants, sharing credit and auditing practices , to make the work accountable. This level of reflexivity isn’t just academic virtue-signalling; it affects how the book reads, lending trustworthiness to her assessments of films and festivals. Industry readers and students will appreciate the transparency: it’s a model for how cultural critics can centre the people they research rather than extract from them. If you’re a teacher assigning these books, Horak’s appendix and screening lists are classroom-ready resources that make syllabus-building easier.

Why these books feel urgent right now

Both works arrive in a moment of increased political attention on LGBTQ+ lives, especially trans youth and the contentious debates around care, schooling and visibility. Horak’s chapter on trans kids and parents is particularly resonant, showing documentaries that position trans youth as agents rather than victims , a corrective to viral caricature. Engelberg’s reframing of bisexuality pushes back against monosexist assumptions that still dominate cultural discussion, offering new vocabulary to critics and viewers alike. Read together, these books push a gentle but firm message: richer, messier representation is not a problem to fix but a resource that expands how we imagine desire, kinship and belonging.

Closing line

Pick up one or both of these books , they’ll change how you watch, argue about, and recommend films to friends.

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