The first out lesbian filmmaker lived and died in her movies

Barbara Hammer, a groundbreaking lesbian filmmaker, left an indelible mark on the world through her groundbreaking films. She used her body as a journal, capturing the many diary entries of her life on celluloid. Hammer documented the sexual revolution of her time, celebrated queer womanhood, and challenged gender norms in her work. She pushed the boundaries of traditional filmmaking, employing experimental techniques such as double-exposure to create dreamy sequences and eschewing narrative conventions.

Hammer's films served as a parallel autobiography, incorporating former lovers and new experiences into their premises. Now, Brydie O'Connor's documentary, Barbara Forever, pays tribute to Hammer as both a pioneer of queer art and experimental film. The feature-length doc reuses Hammer's own body of work to illustrate her biography, drawing from a collection of photographs, interviews, and personal items held at Yale.

O'Connor's film takes viewers on a journey through Hammer's life, from her realization at age 30 that she was a lesbian to her death from ovarian cancer. The documentary showcases the various stages of Hammer's body, highlighting themes of aging, desire, comfort, and illness. Hammer's voice, narrating most of the film, fluctuates in tone and clarity over time, reflecting the toll that her illness took on her.

The film traces Hammer's sexual awakening as it blossoms into a filmmaking career, starting with her early works like Dyketactics, which was the first lesbian lovemaking film made by a lesbian. As she came out in her 30s, Hammer threw herself into exploring her sexuality, often with the camera rolling. Her films from this period were characterized by playful desire, carnal hunger, and uninhibited glee as women danced naked in nature.

Hammer's approach to filmmaking evolved over time, experimenting with physical film and its chemical process, as well as incorporating double-exposure and unconventional camera tricks. She often modeled the entirety of her body or chose detailed close-ups, playing with angles and lighting to enhance contrasts and convey unspoken emotions.

As she aged, Hammer continued to use 8 and 16mm cameras before transitioning to videotape, allowing for more candid moments like an intimate conversation with her long-term partner, Florrie Burke.

Hammer's work not only captures the way older skin crinkles in a lover's embrace but also the way a toughened hand grazes softer parts of a body. Her films serve as a testament to the importance of representation, ensuring that lesbians find themselves reflected in the media rather than searching for a void. As Hammer herself stated in Barbara Forever, she created a representation for us because we are history.