From pornography to autobiography, from the Cold War to the sexual revolution, from rural roots and mythologies to the queer meccas of Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal, The Romance of Transgression in Canada is a history of sexual representation on the large and small screen in English Canada and Quebec.

Thomas Waugh identifies the queerness that has emerged at the centre of our national sex-obsessed cinema, filling a gap in the scholarly literature. In Part One he explores the explosive canon of artists such as Norman McLaren, Claude Jutra, Colin Campbell, Paul Wong, John Greyson, Patricia Rozema, Lea Pool, Bruce Labruce, Esther Valiquette, Marc Paradis, and Mirha-Soleil Ross. Part Two is an encyclopaedia of short essays covering 340 filmmakers, video artists, and institutions.

The Romance of Transgression in Canada is both a scholarly account and a celebration of Canadian LGBTQ films - moving images that have scandalized conservative politicans, but are the envy of queer cultural festivals around the world.