Films with: Hammer, Barbara

History lessons

This film explores lesbian images from 1896 until 1969, focusing on pervading images prior to Stonewall, the film exposes popular representations of lesbian culture.

DVD 1364

Resisting paradise

In 1999, Barbara Hammer had gone to study the light and landscapes of southern France. Cassis in the south of France provided the light and landscape that inspired some of the lushest paintings of the modern era; it also became a point of departure for Jews fleeing the Nazi terror. Wartime letters between painters Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse are contrasted with the role played in the Resistance by Matisse's wife and daughter. Hammer discovers the stories of heroic municipal workers who forged identity cards for Jews and antifascists such as Lisa Fittko who helped Walter Benjamin in his attempt to escape over the Pyrenees. Hammer employs staccato rhythms of light and shadow and multiple formats, including digital video, 8mm, 9mm, and 16mm, glass negatives, found photographs, reverse painting, and archival footage.

DVD 5236