Since graduating from Innis College in 2006, Peter Knegt has, put plainly, made quite a name for himself. After nearly a decade of writing and editing for Indiewire (including freelance gigs for Variety and Salon, and a book published in 2011), he landed at the CBC, where his column Queeries (2017-25) and his show Here & Queer (2022-) have explored the contemporary landscape of queer cinema with wit, curiosity, and sensitivity. (Queeries was reborn last year as Emerging Queer Voices, for which Knegt solicits pieces by up-and-coming freelancers, including yours truly. He accepts pitches on a rolling basis.)
On the occasion of a new season of Here & Queer, and an exciting slate of Pride Month picks for his ongoing Queer Cinema Club at the Paradise Theatre, we spoke with Knegt about his career, process, and outlook on the industry.
How did the transition from writing to a tenure on-camera come about?
So many writers are introverts. Transitioning from writing to on-camera work was not something I was necessarily striving for. It just sort of happened, and it took me a really long time to be any good at it. When I worked for Indiewire in my twenties, we kind of had to moderate on-stage, filmed panels at film festivals as part of the gig, and there is some wildly embarrassing evidence on the internet of just how unqualified I was to be doing this. But as with most things, you do just start getting better at something when you’re forced to do it enough, so by the time I started working at the CBC it wasn’t so bad. I’ll forever be an introvert, though, and being on-camera will never feel natural to me.
Which guests on Here & Queer have you been the most nervous or excited to speak with?
There have been many, though Elliot Page stands out as the person I was probably the most nervous to speak with. His memoir, Pageboy, had just come out, and I had spent the days leading up to the interview basically doing nothing but reading it. And there’s just such an incredible vulnerability in what he expresses in that book that it made me feel a deep amount of pressure to be as thoughtful as possible about how I conducted the interview. I also get the sense he’s a bit of an introvert himself, and sometimes having two introverts who have never met before talking to each other on camera can be a very challenging undertaking.
What guides your programming process for Queer Cinema Club? What excites you most about this month’s picks?
My programming process for Queer Cinema Club is genuinely just guided by the immense joy I get from having that gig. But more specifically, sometimes I program for some sort of commemorative moment, whether a film’s anniversary or someone’s birthday. Sometimes I program for the season (Carol for Christmas, etc). Sometimes I just program because a film feels like the right mood for whatever (mostly bad) thing we are experiencing as a society. I’ve done 71 of them so far, and I have a spreadsheet that already maps it out through the next 50, which would take us to… 2030. It’s my favourite professional thing I’ve ever done, and the only one I’d be happy to continue doing as long I live (or as long as they let me, whichever comes first).
How has the industry changed since you started your career?
I really want to say something positive in response to this question, but I feel like that might be challenging. I started as a film journalist in 2006, when I began working at Indiewire. And I feel like that was around the time that profession was experiencing something special. Online journalism was still figuring itself out in ways that were generally pretty exciting, magazines and newspapers were still (relatively, at least) thriving, and social media was really only in its infancy, and had yet to become a brutally toxic prerequisite to being in that world. It goes without saying that all of that has changed drastically. To the point where often I just feel lucky to still be doing it. That said, I do feel like in the past year or so I’ve been feeling something hopeful in the air when it comes to actual moviegoing, both in what I’ve witnessed in events I’ve programmed and just the general public going back to the movies in ways we haven’t seen since before the pandemic. So as far as that goes, I do feel a bit of optimism!
Are there any particular memories of the cinema studies program and Innis College that have stuck with you?
I hold an incredibly special place in my heart for the cinema studies program at Innis. It was where I transitioned from being just a teenager who loved movies to a full-fledged cinephile, and I really wouldn’t be anywhere near where I am today without what I learned there.
Do you have any advice for this generation of students (or words of warning)?
A few things really strongly come to mind:
- Make connections with your elders, and later, with the generation younger than you. Intergenerational friendships, whether they are of the mentor/mentee variety or not, are so, so important to not just professional development but human development in general.
- Do whatever you can to do things on your own terms. Which is obviously so much easier said than done, but I think it’s such a massive key to continuing to love what you do.
- Strive to build up a community as much as you strive to build up a CV. And do it sincerely, not just because you think having certain contacts will offer professional gain.
- Be nice to people!
Photo of Peter Knegt, above, by Wynne Neilly