Matthew Hipps

Matthew Hipps is a film historian whose research and teaching engage early cinema, animation, nontheatrical film and media, and the evolving role of film within immersive storytelling environments. His recent work examines the convergence of blockbuster cinema and theme park attractions, bringing together theories of embodied spectatorship, queer theory, and alternative modes of exhibition to reconsider how audiences physically and sensorially encounter moving images.

His teaching spans introductory and advanced courses on global film history and queer world cinema. He also regularly offers upper-level special topics seminars on animation, focused studies of movements such as Left Bank Cinema, and experimental forms of exhibition and spectatorship, emphasizing the dynamic relationships between media, space, and viewer experience.