Barbara Forever

United States2025102 minEnglish

Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award: US Documentary

An archive-driven exploration of the life, work, and legacy of iconic, pioneering lesbian filmmaker Barbara Hammer.

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Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award: US Documentary

An archive-driven exploration of the life, work, and legacy of iconic, pioneering lesbian filmmaker Barbara Hammer.

Turning the lens on a celebrated filmmaker is no easy task, particularly one whose work is as groundbreaking, sensual, and life-affirming as Barbara Hammer’s. Yet, director Brydie O’Connor does her justice. Weaving a kinetic tapestry of archival footage guided by Hammer’s own voice, the film offers an intimate front-row seat into the mind of a visual poet.

Barbara Hammer was deeply concerned with who makes history and who is left out, which motivated her to record her life, her body, her lovers, and the joy found in her lesbian identity. O’Connor’s portrait is an inspiring tribute and candid document of artistic process, capturing the persistence, unabashed ambition, and inevitable tensions such drive creates. Barbara Hammer’s work opened the door for so many artists, and her legacy, so deftly captured here, reminds us why. — SO

This film contains strobe effects.

This film contains mature content and may not be appropriate for all ages.

Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 29–February 1) and credentialed press and industry (January 28–February 1).

U.S. Documentary CompetitionAll FeaturesBiographyLGBTQ+ StoriesWomen-Centered StoriesNonfictionClosed CaptionOpen CaptionPhotosensitivityU.S. Only- less

Credits

Director(s)
Brydie O’Connor
Producer
Elijah Stevens
Brydie O’Connor
Claire Edelman
Executive Producers
Christine Vachon
Consulting Producer
Zackary Drucker
Jenni Olson
Editor
Matt Hixon
Composer
Taul Katz
Supervising Sound Editor
Gisela Fullà Silvestre
Re-Recording Mixer
Eli Cohn
Colorist
CJ Julian
Archival Producer
Brydie O’Connor

Contact
Elijah Stevens
info@spacetimefilms.co

Meet the Artist

Brydie O’Connor

Brydie O’Connor is a Kansas-born, New York–based filmmaker. Her work activates archives through queering storytelling structures within the nonfiction space. Her past work includes the documentary shorts The Roaming Center for Magnetic Alternatives (2025), The Fault Line (2024), and Love, Barbara (2022), which was nominated for an IDA Award.

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