Presented in special partnership with the Barbara Hammer Estate and Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New York.
Despite her mother’s dreams that Barbara Hammer would become a child star like Shirley Temple, Hammer blazed her own path — creating a radical lesbian feminist cinema when there was none.
Hammer began making personal short films in the early 1970s. Her work — personal, experimental, playful, erotic, and political at every turn — sought new modes of representation and has inspired generations of queer, feminist, and lesbian filmmakers since.
This class will explore Hammer’s feature experimental documentaries, and some of her short works, with the same curiosity, joy and tenderness she brought to her art and life, and continue her mission of centering queer - and specifically lesbian - experiences, aesthetics, and stories on the silver screen.
Films:
5/6: BARBARA WARD WILL NEVER DIE (1968, 3 min) • SUPERDYKE MEETS MADAM X (1975, 28 min) • TENDER FICTIONS (1995, 58 min)
5/13: DYKETACTICS (1974, 4 min) • NITRATE KISSES (1992, 67 min)
5/20: AUDIENCE (1982, 32 min) • HISTORY LESSONS (2000, 66 min)
5/27: VITAL SIGNS (1990, 10 minutes) • A HORSE IS NOT A METAPHOR (2008, 30 min) • GENERATIONS (2010, 30 min) • LESBIAN WHALE (2015, 6 min)
This class will be taught by MMU Instructor Max Swanson, a filmmaker/performer, writer, educator, and organizer based in Portland, OR.
Class size will be limited to 18.
Email us at education@moviemadness.org if you have any questions.
In general, the Hollywood Theatre does not provide content advisories about the subject matter shown in our theatre. Films exhibited don’t necessarily reflect the views of the Hollywood Theatre. Information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media and DoesTheDogDie.com.