‘Barbara Forever’ Review: Queer Experimental Filmmaker Barbara Hammer Gets a Tactile, True and Treasurable Career Overview
The Hollywood Reporter has reviewed "Barbara Forever," a new documentary that offers a career overview of Barbara Hammer, a pioneering queer experimental filmmaker who died in 2019 aged 79. The film, directed by archival producer Brydie O'Connor, draws on Hammer's own extensive archive, now held at Yale University, and is largely constructed from footage Hammer herself shot or directed, giving it an intimate, first-person quality that the reviewer praises as vivid and multi-textured.
The documentary traces Hammer's evolution from her early Super 8 work through her landmark queer films, including 1974's "Dyketactics," widely regarded as one of the first lesbian erotic films made by a lesbian, and later performance pieces such as "Double Strength" (1978). It follows her shift from experimental, non-narrative filmmaking towards more conventional documentary forms, and highlights her practice of inviting younger artists, such as Joey Carducci, to complete unfinished projects. Ahead of its limited release, the film has already won several festival awards, including the Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award at Sundance.
- New documentary "Barbara Forever" reviews filmmaker Barbara Hammer's career
- Draws on Hammer's Yale-held archive and her own footage
- Traces her shift from experimental queer cinema to documentary; wins Sundance award