NEW YORK, NY.- Film Forum will present the U.S. theatrical premiere of Brydie O’Connor’s Barbara Forever on Friday, September 4.

Pioneering queer avant-garde filmmaker Barbara Hammer (1939–2019) broke barriers by centering frank lesbian sexuality and pleasure in an expansive body of beautiful, poetic, personal work. In Barbara Forever—constructed largely from Hammer’s own archive spanning five decades, alongside audio diaries and present-day conversations with her longtime partner, Florrie Burke—director Brydie O’Connor crafts a loving portrait of a force of nature while accompanying her through her final years and creative processes.

Barbara Forever had its world premiere at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award, before going on to screen at the Berlinale (Teddy Award for Best Documentary), the San Francisco Frameline Film Festival (Outstanding Documentary Feature Award), the Provincetown International Film Festival (Special Mention for the John Schlesinger First-Time Filmmaker Award), and numerous other festivals worldwide.

The following programs of short films by Barbara Hammer will screen during the film’s run.





Barbara Hammer: Love Is Where You Find It includes Double Strength, Dyketactics, Superdyke, Sync Touch, Audience. (Runtime: 77 min.)

Barbara Hammer: Embodied Histories includes The History of the World According to a Lesbian, Sisters!, Snow Job: The Media Hysteria of AIDS, Still Point, Witness: Palestine, A Horse Is Not A Metaphor. (Runtime: 83 min.)

“Barbara Hammer was a bad-ass punk rocker… This film lays bare the essence of an icon.” – Todd Haynes

“Barbara Hammer gave me a language for making films without asking permission and Barbara Forever understands that lineage with confidence and nerve. It is smart, unapologetically queer, and formally alive. This film does not look back at Barbara, it moves forward with her legacy." – Cheryl Dunye

*Critic’s Pick* "A loving and intimate tribute to a queer cinema legend... A veritable goldmine of queer cinema history, and a film worthy of its peerless subject... For gay cinephiles, it's a historic gold mine... Worthy of its subject matter, faultlessly curated and illuminating in the instrumentation of its material... The vision of second-wave feminism as a community of proud activists and prouder lovers is euphoric... It is a work made from a position of impassioned closeness.” – Sam Bodrojan, IndieWire

“A beautifully assembled introduction to Hammer’s adventurous life and work... the aesthetic is that of a dynamic collagist, piecing together films, interviews and audio recordings into a portrait of real depth and style.” – Zachary Barnes, The Wall Street Journal

"O’Connor proves herself to be an ideal fit for this documentary… [She] is also a savvy archivist, which ultimately distinguishes this film… Hammer herself wanted the work to live beyond her own life. With this film, O’Connor becomes a new catalyst for that longevity. Barbara Forever stands as a confident feature documentary for its filmmaker, yet also as a singular artistic statement after Hammer that should add new admirers for her work.” – Murtada Elfadl, Variety

"Deeply poetic and layered. Special mention must be made of Taul Katz’s score, which contributes to making Barbara Forever a transporting experience throughout." – David Leitner, Filmmaker Magazine