Barbara Forever

🔞😁 Barbara Forever, dir. Brydie O’Connor, 2026, USA, 102 min.
Thursday, June 25, 2026, 8:45 PM, Castro Theatre (🌉 Bay Area premiere)
🏆 Teddy Award (Berlinale): best documentary, Oppenheimer Editing Award (Sundance)
special encore screening: Sunday, June 28, 2026, 3:00 PM, Roxie Theater [not part of Frameline50]

Barbara Forever (photo: Sarah Campbell)

Frameline blurb: Pioneering lesbian filmmaker, former San Franciscan, and Frameline Award winner Barbara Hammer takes center stage in Brydie O’Connor’s Teddy Award-winning debut feature. When Hammer came out as a lesbian in the ‘70s she “took off on a motorcycle with a super-8 camera,” leading to groundbreaking queer and experimental works like Dyketactics (1974) — one of the first-ever lesbian films — and, later, her celebrated first feature, Nitrate Kisses (1992, Frameline24).

Throughout her monumental career, Hammer made over 90 moving-image works that often centered on her own life, body, and lovers — a monumental decision when such life-affirming, honest depictions of sapphic people were scarce. Bolstered by exquisitely edited archival footage, this beautifully intimate documentary assembles an equally lyrical portrait of the visual poet, illuminating how Hammer’s legacy continues to inspire artists and preserve our shared histories. At the same time, it never loses sight of the ambitious, funny, bold, and joyful woman at its center.

My take: Barbara Hammer made deeply personal films. Even if some of them don’t particularly speak to you and your interests, there are probably others that do. And there is no doubt that she broke new ground in many aspects of queer filmmaking, blazing a trail for many others to follow and branch off onto trails of their own. Barbara Forever covers both Barbara’s life and her films, because you really can’t understand her films without knowing something about how her life led her to those projects. It’s a well made film, highly recommended for all audiences, a must see for anyone interested in the intersection of feminism, queer theory, activism, and unabashed lesbian sexuality.

• IMDb • Official website • Filmmaker • Instagram • Facebook • interview with the filmmakers • Wikipedia • Rotten Tomatoes • preview of Nitrate Kisses •