HAMMER!: Making Movies Out of Sex and Life

by Barbara Hammer

HAMMER! is the first book by influential filmmaker Barbara Hammer, whose life and work have inspired a generation of queer, feminist, and avant-garde artists and filmmakers. The wild days of non-monogamy in the 1970s, the development of a queer aesthetic in the 1980s, the fight for visibility during the culture wars of the 1990s, her search for meaning as she contemplates mortality in the past ten years—HAMMER! includes texts from these periods, new writings, and fully contextualized film stills to create a memoir as innovative and disarming as her work has always been.

Barbara Hammer has made over eighty films and video works over the past forty years. Her experimental films of the 1970s often dealt with taboo subjects such as menstruation, female orgasm, and lesbian sexuality. In the 1980s she used optical printing to explore perception and the fragility of 16mm film life itself. Her documentaries tell the stories of marginalized peoples who have been hidden from history. Her most recent work, A Horse is Not a Metaphor, won the 2009 Teddy Award for Best Short Film at the Berlin International Film Festival. A retrospective screening of her work will be presented at the Museum of Modern Art in spring 2010 and will travel to the Reina Sophia in Madrid and the Tate Modern in London.

Genres: Film, Feminism, Queer, Nonfiction, Photography, LGBT

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Jules · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book while browsing the new nonfiction section at the library. As a filmmaker, Hammer intersperses images from the many films she's created over the past 4 decades with text on her life and work. A great introduction to Barbara Hammer and for anyone interested in the history of feminist film.

[Joey Shapiro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took all my strength and willpower to finish reading the last hundred pages of this while I have covid, but I long to read something fluffy and stupid so legally I've gotta finish my smart book! Very weird to be introduced to Barbara Hammer first as a writer and second as a filmmaker-- I got this at the gift shop in the Museum of the Moving Image because I had heard her name mentioned but had never seen any of her movies. This is advertised as a memoir but is in reality a big collection of her essays from the last four decades, some of which veer personal and most of which are closer to film theory and artist manifestoes. The stuff that feels more traditionally autobiographical dragged for me a lot, but I love her writing about film and about lesbian representation in film. She was the first out lesbian filmmaker ever, and her films explore what a lesbian aesthetic in film might look like. A lot of these feel very dry and academic, but there's always an undercurrent of warmth and interest in emotion over technique. Dictionary definition mixed bag (it's 40 years of essays, they're not all equally engaging) but I learned a lot and am really excited to see more of her work!!

[pamreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is difficult to give this one a rating - some aspects and chapters I found SO interesting
I did not expect for this to be mostly a collection of older essays. Because of that, there did not seem to be a through line or overarching reflexion of things, and it got repetitive sometimes when the same things were mentioned and explained in the different essays. Most of them were rather short or inserted in excerpts, which also made it feel frustratingly superficial at times.
One thing is clear to me though, after reading this book: Barbara Hammer loved art and lesbian sex, and for that I do have to respect her

[Niamh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hammer has done so much for the Lesbian Film Community and I deeply resonated with so much of the way she viewed life. I feel so grateful to be able to look up to her and for her to share so much vulnerability on the page. All of the work she did in her lifetime paved the way for lesbians and experimental filmmakers now. Thanks you to Barbara Hammer for making sure her work was remembered and for reviving so much lesbian history.

[ida · Rating 4 out of 5]

dlaczego barbara hammer to najlepsza kobieta na świcie?

[Snem · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fearless is the one word that comes to mind while I read this book and considered Barbara Hammer. I really admired her after reading this. I also thought the images and journal bits really added to this book. I have to admit that there were parts I read that were baffling to me and left me with a "what did I just read?" feeling. If you're into radical feminist lesbian avant-garde filmmakers, well this is a good read for you.

[R.Z. · Rating 4 out of 5]

An autobiography of Barbara Hammer, experimental film-maker. See my full review at http://gettingtomaybe.com.