Nigel Finch (August 1, 1949 – February 14, 1995)

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Nigel Lucius Graeme Finch (1 August 1949 – 14 February 1995) was an English film director and filmmaker whose career influenced the growth of British gay cinema.

Nigel Finch was born in Tenterden, Kent, the son of Graham and Tibby Finch, and raised in Bromley, south east London. He studied art history at the University of Sussex.

Finch began working as co-editor for the BBC television documentary series Arena in the early 1970s. He produced and directed many notable programs including My Way (1978), and The Private Life of the Ford Cortina (1982). He rose to prominence with the documentary Chelsea Hotel (1981), which profiled the famed New York hotel and its legacy of famous gay guests, including Oscar Wilde, Tennessee Williams, William S. Burroughs, Quentin Crisp and Andy Warhol. His documentary subjects include artist Robert Mapplethorpe (1988), filmmaker Kenneth Anger (1991), and artist Louise Bourgeois (1994). Finch went on to direct films such as the BAFTA-nominated drama The Lost Language of Cranes, and the musical soap opera The Vampyr.

Finch died from AIDS-related illness in London in 1995 during post-production of his first full-length feature film Stonewall, a docudrama loosely based on events leading up to the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City.

Nigel Finch's death was commemorated in the ending title of the opera-film "Dido and Aeneas" (1995) directed by Peter Maniura (conducted by Richard Hickox. See the corresponding entry in Dido and Aeneas discography).

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Finch

Further Readings:

Queering Gay and Lesbian Studies by Thomas Piontek
Paperback: 144 pages
Publisher: University of Illinois Press (February 13, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0252072804
ISBN-13: 978-0252072802
Amazon: Queering Gay and Lesbian Studies
Amazon Kindle: Queering Gay and Lesbian Studies

"Queering Gay and Lesbian Studies" is a broadly interdisciplinary study that considers a key dilemma in gay and lesbian studies through the prism of identity and its discontents: the field studies has modeled itself on ethnic studies programs, perhaps to be intelligible to the university community, but certainly because the ethnic studies route to programs is well established. Since this model requires a stable and identifiable community, gay and lesbian studies have emphasized stable and knowable identities. The problem, of course is that sexuality is neither stable, tidy, nor developmental. With the advent of queer theory, there are now other perspectives available that frequently find themselves at odds with traditional gay and lesbian studies.In this pioneering new study, Thomas Piontek provides a critical analysis of the development of gay and lesbian studies alongside the development of queer theory, the disputes between them, and criticism of their activities from both in and outside of the gay academic community. Examining disputes about transgendering, gay male promiscuity, popular culture, gay history, political activism, and non-normative sexual practices, Piontek argues that it is vital to queer gay and lesbian studies - opening this emerging discipline to queer critical interventions without, however, further institutionalizing queer theory. Thomas Piontek is an assistant professor of English at the Ohio State University, Columbus.

More LGBT History at my website: www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Gay Classics