Barbara Forever

Queer Cinema pioneer Barbara Hammer (1939–2019) started making films at the age of 27, coming out as a lesbian in her early 30s: “My life has been lived in film.” The sheer wealth of film material of her life also forms the basis for Barbara Forever, Brydie O’Connor’s debut feature which achieves the mammoth task of doing justice to her dazzling and charismatic personality: a pioneer of lesbian and queer self-representation “in a world where we are invisible”, a seductive lover – and a both experimental and daring filmmaker. Above all this: a lust for life. Through her films, that include Dyketactics (1974), Audience (1982) and Nitrate Kisses (1992), hitherto unseen archive material, Barbara’s narrative voice and with her life partner Florrie Burke as another focal point the temporality of life itself is queered: lots of sex and intimacy, the theory of the cinema of touch, the desire for artistic recognition, her relationship with her mother in an immigrant family and the mission to pass on and share what film does best, not least in view of her illness and dying. Fans, newcomers and returning viewers alike: allow yourself be touched by this Dyke Poetry! (Gaby Babić)

Brydie O'Connor (she/her) is a Kansas-born, New York-based filmmaker. Her work activates archives through queering storytelling structures within the nonfiction space. Brydie’s work has been supported by Frameline, Hot Docs, Cinéma du Réel, New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Stonewall Foundation, and has been presented at the Museum of Modern Art, BFI, and DOC NYC, among other festivals and galleries worldwide. Brydie was selected as the recipient of the Creative Capital State of the Art Prize for New York and the Hulu/Kartemquin Accelerator award (2023).

Director Brydie O'Connor. Editing Matt Hixon. Music Taul Katz. Sound Design Gisela Fullà Silvestre. Producers Elijah Stevens, Brydie O'Connor, Claire Edelman. Executive Producer Christine Vachon. Production company Space Time Films (Brooklyn, USA). With Barbara Hammer.

Films: 2019: Going Steady (short film). 2021: Friends of Dorothy (short film). 2022: Love, Barbara (short film). 2024: Sasporumpet (short film). 2025: The Fault Line (short film), The Roaming Center for Magnetic Alternatives (short film). 2026: Barbara Forever.