Barbara Hammer(1939-2019)
- Director
- Cinematographer
- Editor
A loud and constantly innovative voice in independent film, Barbara
Hammer was born in 1939 in California. From a young age, she was
encouraged to be pretty and feminine, her mother constantly forcing the
images of child actors like Shirley Temple on her daughter. Her
grandmother, a Ukrainian immigrant, worked as a cook for the famous
actress Lillian Gish, and at one point, little Barbara and her mother
were introduced to D. W. Griffith. Barbara, however, did not want to be
a child star, and when she became of age, found a new way to express
herself. Barbara made her first film, in 1974, and since then has made
somewhere between 80 and 100 films and videos. Many of her works have
been very controversial, dealing often with sex, gender, society and
history. Her first feature film, Nitrate Kisses, appeared in 1992.