Interview with Brydie O’Connor, “BARBARA FOREVER”

Video (45:48): Zsombor Bobák in conversation with Brydie O’Connor about her documentary “BARBARA FOREVER”. Video by Teddy Award, 2026.

‘Queer Cinema pioneer Barbara Hammer (1939–2019) started making films at the age of 27, coming out as a lesbian in her early 30s: “My life has been lived in film.” The sheer wealth of film material of her life also forms the basis for Barbara Forever, Brydie O’Connor’s debut feature which achieves the mammoth task of doing justice to her dazzling and charismatic personality: a pioneer of lesbian and queer self-representation “in a world where we are invisible”, a seductive lover – and a both experimental and daring filmmaker. Above all this: a lust for life. Through her films, that include Dyketactics (1974), Audience (1982) and Nitrate Kisses (1992), hitherto unseen archive material, Barbara’s narrative voice and with her life partner Florrie Burke as another focal point the temporality of life itself is queered: lots of sex and intimacy, the theory of the cinema of touch, the desire for artistic recognition, her relationship with her mother in an immigrant family and the mission to pass on and share what film does best, not least in view of her illness and dying. Fans, newcomers and returning viewers alike: allow yourself to be touched by this Dyke Poetry!’ – Teddy Award.

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Brydie O’Connor

is a Kansas-born, NYC based filmmaker. Her work activates archives through queering storytelling structures within the nonfiction space. Brydie’s work has been presented at Sundance, Berlinale, BFI, The Centre Pompidou, and The Museum of Modern Art, among other festivals and museums worldwide. Her debut feature documentary, BARBARA FOREVER, was awarded the Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, and won the Teddy Award for Best Documentary at the 2026 Berlinale.