Feminist icon and lesbian filmmaker Barbara Hammer’s life mission was to create and record lesbian histories, both personal and societal. With Hammer’s own voice as our guide, Barbara Forever weaves elements from her personal archive—films, home movies, photos, audio recordings—and interviews with her longtime partner, Florrie Burke, to create an expansive portrait of its subject. Married young to a man who promised adventure but actually wanted a housewife, Hammer, at 27, began filming her life with an 8mm camera to experiment with her artistic desires. When she came out in her 30s, that documentation was critical to her work going forward. In the 1970s, lesbian cinema was practically nonexistent; Hammer’s unique storytelling and experimental filmmaking allowed lesbians to see themselves represented on-screen and in film history. By the 1990s, she was at the forefront of the New Queer Cinema movement. Brydie O’Connor’s feature debut is a beautiful love letter to a pioneer of film and her lasting legacy. BD

Q&A following screening