Prolific lesbian feminist filmmaker Barbara Hammer’s refusal to be written out of history paid off, and Barbara Forever is full of evidence of the impact Hammer, both herself and her work, made on those around her. Beyond just telling the story of the life of a trailblazing lesbian filmmaker, the documentary is an intimate portrait of a fascinating and indomitable woman who treated life as the ultimate adventure.
Barbara Forever received Sundance’s Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award for U.S. Documentary (the film’s editor is Matt Hixon), with its whirling, dynamic and comprehensive array of film and archival footage from an artist who voraciously documented her own life and the lives of others.
(This is one in a series of film reviews from the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, focused on films by women, trans or nonbinary directors that tell compelling stories about the lives of women and girls.)
The post Sundance 2026: ‘Barbara Forever’ Chronicles the Life and Work of Experimental Lesbian Filmmaker Barbara Hammer appeared first on Ms. Magazine.