Barbara Forever

Avant-garde lesbian filmmaker Barbara Hammer’s life and pioneering work take centre stage in this archive-driven tribute to a queer cinema icon.

Fearless Los Angeles–born artist Barbara Hammer was 30 years old and married to a man when she first heard the word “lesbian”. This life-changing discovery would, in turn, lead to the expansion of the vocabulary of queer cinema itself. Across her prolific career from her groundbreaking 1974 short Dyketactics through to her feature-length breakout Nitrate Kisses (MIFF 1993) and beyond – works variously composed of frankly sensual depictions of friends and lovers and cinematic images from a bygone era – Hammer’s filmography was as playful as it was relentless in decentring the heterosexual gaze.

Brydie O’Connor’s energising tribute to this LGBTQIA+ icon artfully weaves together footage from the director’s personal archive with clips from her films, all accompanied by commentary from Hammer herself – with some sections recorded shortly before her passing in 2019 – as well as from Florrie Burke, the filmmaker’s widow. Winner of a Teddy Award at the 2026 Berlinale along with a prize for editing at Sundance, Barbara Forever looks to the future of queer filmmaking by honouring one of its greatest revolutionaries.

Content: Melbourne International Film Festival