Barbara Hammer

Directing

Barbara Hammer

Born May 15, 1939 · Hollywood, California, USA

Died March 16, 2019 · aged 79

Barbara Hammer was born on May 15, 1939 in Hollywood, California. She was a visual artist working primarily in film and video. She made over 80 moving image works in a career that spanned 40 years. She is considered a pioneer of queer cinema.

Known For

Maya Deren's SinkMaya Deren's Sink · 2011
Maya Deren's Sink
4.52011
MovieHistoryDocumentary
Maya Deren's Sink, a 30 minute experimental film, is an evocative tribute to the mother of avantgarde American film. The film calls forth the spirit of one who was larger than life as recounted by those who knew her. Teiji Ito's family, Carolee Schneemann and Judith Malvina, float through the homes recalling in tiny bits and pieces words of Deren's architectural and personal interior space. Clips from Maya Deren's films are projected back into the spaces where they were originally filmed appearing on the floorboard, furniture, and in the bowl of her former sink. Fluid light projections of intimate space provide an elusive agency for a filmmaker most of us will never know as film with its imaginary nature evokes a former time and space.
Double StrengthDouble Strength · 1978
Double Strength
5.31978
Movie
Four stages of a lesbian relationship explored in an experimental film starring performance artists Terry Sendgraff and Barbara Hammer on suspended trapezes and ropes.
Nitrate KissesNitrate Kisses · 1992
Nitrate Kisses
5.01992
MovieDocumentary
Essay documentary explores eroded emulsions and images for lost vestiges of lesbian and gay culture. First feature by a pioneer of lesbian cinema, Hammer weaves gay and lesbian couples with footage that unearths the forbidden and invisible history of a marginalized people.
Fucking Different New YorkFucking Different New York · 2007
Fucking Different New York
1.32007
MovieDrama
What do construction workers do in their well-earned breaks? How might Angelina Jolie's and Brad Pitt's relationship have ended? And what really happened between Marilyn Monroe and Joan Crawford during the summer of 1959? The answers to these and many other interesting questions are provided by twelve queer New York filmmakers. Their films also scrutinize such topics as the difference between the way men and women dream, and how erotic tying a necktie or having a manicure can be.
Carolee, Barbara and GunvorCarolee, Barbara and Gunvor · 2018
Carolee, Barbara and Gunvor
5.62018
MovieDocumentary
From 2015 to 2017, Lynne Sachs visited with Carolee Schneemann, Barbara Hammer and Gunvor Nelson, three multi-faceted artists who have embraced the moving image throughout their lives.
Devotion: A Film About Ogawa ProductionsDevotion: A Film About Ogawa Productions · 2002
Devotion: A Film About Ogawa Productions
10.02002
MovieDocumentary
Devotion investigates the extremely complex and heirarchical relationships among a committed group of Japanese filmmakers who dedicated up to 30 years of their lives making films for one man-Ogawa Shinsuke. Members of Ogawa Pro filmed the student movement of the late 60's; the fight by farmers to save their land from government confiscaton for the Narita airport at Sanrizuka; and the village life of a small farming community, Magino Village, in northern Japan. These heartbreaking and sometimes funny stories have never been told on film before. Rare footage, stills, and diaries with interviews with Oshima Nagisa, Hara Kazuo and Robert Kramer make this historical inquiry visually exciting as well as valuable.
Pearl DiverPearl Diver · 1984
Pearl Diver
1984
Movie
PEARL DIVER is about the frustration of communication between two women who try to tell each other "I love you" underwater making humorous a very wet situation. Filmed in Super 8 in Baja, California and rephotographed in 16mm to emphasize the quality of light underwater and the dual nature of living in both air and water reflective of the female experience of living in a man's world.
SuperdykeSuperdyke · 1975
Superdyke
5.71975
MovieDocumentaryComedy
A comedy about a troop of shield-bearing Amazons who take over city institutions before relaxing in the country. "Superdyke" takes women into the streets when Barbara arms of a platoon of vagina warriors with Amazon shields in an attempt to overthrow San Francisco. They march through City Hall, usurp the bus lines, demythologiz the consumer mentality at Macy's (to the recorded astonishment of casual shoppers), and wander through the erotic art museum. Barbara's frenetic handheld lens catches the startled reactions and the glee of the participants. SUPERDYKE has a home-movie quality to it, but its committed and loose moments in the playground confirm its comic rationale.

Filmography

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Maya Deren's SinkMaya Deren's Sink · 2011
Maya Deren's Sink
4.52011
MovieHistoryDocumentary
Maya Deren's Sink, a 30 minute experimental film, is an evocative tribute to the mother of avantgarde American film. The film calls forth the spirit of one who was larger than life as recounted by those who knew her. Teiji Ito's family, Carolee Schneemann and Judith Malvina, float through the homes recalling in tiny bits and pieces words of Deren's architectural and personal interior space. Clips from Maya Deren's films are projected back into the spaces where they were originally filmed appearing on the floorboard, furniture, and in the bowl of her former sink. Fluid light projections of intimate space provide an elusive agency for a filmmaker most of us will never know as film with its imaginary nature evokes a former time and space.

Director

Devotion: A Film About Ogawa ProductionsDevotion: A Film About Ogawa Productions · 2002
Devotion: A Film About Ogawa Productions
10.02002
MovieDocumentary
Devotion investigates the extremely complex and heirarchical relationships among a committed group of Japanese filmmakers who dedicated up to 30 years of their lives making films for one man-Ogawa Shinsuke. Members of Ogawa Pro filmed the student movement of the late 60's; the fight by farmers to save their land from government confiscaton for the Narita airport at Sanrizuka; and the village life of a small farming community, Magino Village, in northern Japan. These heartbreaking and sometimes funny stories have never been told on film before. Rare footage, stills, and diaries with interviews with Oshima Nagisa, Hara Kazuo and Robert Kramer make this historical inquiry visually exciting as well as valuable.

Producer