Barbara Hammer: icon of both queer cinema and experimental film. Premiering at the Berlinale, this documentary pays tribute to both sides of the pivotal filmmaker who passed away in 2019. Narrated by Hammer herself, director Brydie O’Connor retraces her life and its defining themes: the rebirth after divorce that sparked both her filmmaking and her coming out, her relationship with sex, the lesbian community, family, success, and art. Through her films, including the seminal Dyketactics (1974) and Nitrate Kisses (1992), and unreleased material, the film follows her partner Florrie Burke’s search for a home for the filmmaker’s vast archive. Barbara Forever is more than a portrait; it is a meta-reflection on preserving memory and doing justice to an oeuvre that lives forever.
Biography
film director
Brydie O'Connor
Born in Kansas and based in New York, documentary filmmaker Brydie O’Connor uses extensive archival research to shape queer narrative threads in her work. Following her short film Love, Barbara (2022), she went on to create her first feature-length documentary, Barbara Forever (2026), also dedicated to Barbara Hammer. The film premiered at Sundance and the Berlinale, where it won the Teddy Award. O’Connor has also developed her projects through the Provincetown Film Society LGBTQ+ Filmmakers Residency and the On::View Residency.
Cast
& Credits
Suono/Sound Eli Cohn, Gisela Fulla-Silvestre
Musica/Music Taul Katz
Interpreti/Cast Barbara Hammer
Produttore/Producer Elijah Stevens, Brydie O'Connor, Claire Edelman
Produzione/Production Space Time Films
Vendite internazionali/World Sales The Film Collaborative
