Nitrate
Kisses by Barbara Hammer (1992, 63 min)
Hammer, in her first feature film, challenges
the viewer with her thoughts on the loss of queer history as well
as gay sensuality and sexuality. It begins with a short biography
of writer Willa Cather, a supposed lesbian who, before her death,
destroyed all personal records and correspondences, making it
nearly impossible to learn more about her life. With this willful
destruction of historical information, Hammer explores the life
and sex of several older lesbians and juxtaposes through montage
two gay men making love, tatooed S/M dykes, 1930s German film
footage and adds a soundtract that includes some amazingly queer
blues songs. A demanding, yet lyrical film that is, among many
things, a plea for gays and lesbians to record and rediscover
their own history.
Lesbian
Sexuality by Barbara Hammer (1974-79, 51 min)
Independent filmmaker Brabara Hammer has three
of her shorts presented in this video package. Included are: Dyketactics
(1974, 4 min), the first lesbian love-making film made by a
lesbian, Double Strength (1978, 20 min), a study of four
stages of a lesbian relationship starring performance and trapeze
artist Terry Sendgraff, and Women I Love (1979, 27 min), a
series of portraits of friends and lovers.
Perceptual Landscape
by Barbara Hammer (1981-83, 51 min)
A shorts compilation from avant-garde filmmaker
Barbara Hammer included in the collection are: Pools (1981,
6 min), Bent Time (1984, 20 min), Pond and Waterfall
(1982, 15 min) and Stone Circles (1983, 10 min).
Out
in South Africa by Barbara Hammer (1994, 51 min)
Invited to South Africa for a retrospective of
her work in that country's first lesbian and gay film festival,
Hammer takes the opportunity to tape her journey in the
post-apartheid country as well as offer workshops for gays and
lesbians in the countryside. Wanting to "give something back
to the country," she teaches video production to a township's
gays and lesbians. Those men and women also provide on-screen
accounts of their horrors and resiliency in the often repressive
country.
