Barbara Forever
2026 • 102’ • USA
"A veritable goldmine of queer cinema [...] , and a film worthy of its peerless subject."
- Indiewire
BARBARA FOREVER is an expansive, immersive exploration of the life, work, and ongoing cultural impact of filmmaker Barbara Hammer – a pioneering artist who lived boldly, created urgently, and transformed cinema through her singular vision. Her films were an extension of herself: sensual, experimental, and unapologetically lesbian, rooted in a profound desire for connection and an insistence on telling her own story. Driven by her canon of over eighty films,a vast collection of unreleased archival materials, and extensive audio interviews, Brydie O’Connor’s portrait allows for Hammer’s voice and images to shine through, becoming both atribute and an extension of her legacy.
Director:
Brydie O’Connor
Producers:
Elijah Stevens, Brydie O’Connor, Claire Edelman
Executive Producer:
Christine Vachon
Editor:
Matt Hixon
Composer:
Taul Katz
Festivals:
Sundance Film Festival 2026 – Winner: Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award
Berlinale 2026 - Winner: Teddy Award - Best Documentary Film
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival 2026
Green Mountain Film Festival 2026
True/False 2026
Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival 2026 - Winner: Mermaid Award
Ann Arbour Film Festival 2026 - Winner: Tom Berman Award
Sonomal International Film Festival 2026
Salem Film Festival 2026
Hong Kong International Film Festival 2026
BFI Flare 2026
Cleveland International Film Festival 2026 - Winner: Jury Award
Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival 2026
BAFICI Buenos Aires International Film Festival 2026
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
Lovers Film Festival Turin 2026
Milwaukee Film 2026
Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival - Sunny Bunny LGBTQ+ 2026
QueerCineMad, Madrid International LGBTIAQ+ Film Festival 2026
Hot Docs International Film Festival 2026
OUTshine Film Festival 2026
Pink Apple Filmfestival, Zurich 2026
Jeonju International Film Festival 2026
Vox Feminae Film Festival 2026
DOK.fest Munich 2026
DocsBarcelona Festival 2026
Seattle International Film Festival 2026
Millennium Docs Against Gravity Warsaw 2026
SPACE Gallery 2026
Beldocs International Documentary Film Festival 2026
Magic Nights Queer Film Festival 2026
KASHISH Pride Film Festival, Mumbai 2026
Sydney Film Festival 2026
Olhar de Cinema 2026
Thailand International LGBTQ+ Film Festival 2026
Centre Pompidou 2026
DC/DOX 2026
Frameline: San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival 2026
Budapest Pride 2026
EYE Filmmuseum Amsterdam 2026
Queer Vision Bristol 2026
Revelation: Perth International Film Festival 2026
Sapphic Cinema Club Glasgow 2026
Filmmaker’s Biography:
Brydie O’Connor (she/her) 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 (2025), and LOVE, BARBARA (2022), which was nominated for an IDA Award. Brydie’s work has been supported by Frameline, Hot Docs, Cinéma du Réel, New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Stonewall Foundation, and has been presented at The Museum of Modern Art, BFI, and DOC NYC, among other festivals and galleries worldwide. Most recently, Brydie was selected as the recipient of the Creative Capital State of the Art Prize for New York (2026) and the Hulu/Kartemquin Accelerator award (2023). She is a graduate of The George Washington University, and has developed her work at the Provincetown Film Society LGBTQ+ Filmmakers Residency (2024) and the On:View Residency (2024) in Savannah, GA.