Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibilityBarbara Forever | 2026 Sundance Film Festival
Accessibility

U.S. Documentary Competition

Barbara Forever

sd_star_fav_icon
United States2025101 minEnglish
Barbara Forever

An archive-driven exploration of the life, work, and legacy of iconic, pioneering lesbian filmmaker Barbara Hammer.

+ More

An archive-driven exploration of the life, work, and legacy of iconic, pioneering lesbian filmmaker Barbara Hammer.

Turning the lens on a celebrated filmmaker is no easy task, particularly one whose work is as groundbreaking, sensual, and life-affirming as Barbara Hammer’s. Yet, director Brydie OConnor does her justice. Weaving a kinetic tapestry of archival footage guided by Hammer’s own voice, the film offers an intimate front-row seat into the mind of a visual poet.

Barbara Hammer was deeply concerned with who makes history and who is left out, which motivated her to record her life, her body, her lovers, and the joy found in her lesbian identity. O’Connor’s portrait is an inspiring tribute and candid document of artistic process, capturing the persistence, unabashed ambition, and inevitable tensions such drive creates. Barbara Hammer’s work opened the door for so many artists, and her legacy, so deftly captured here, reminds us why. — SO

This film contains strobe effects.

This film contains mature content and may not be appropriate for all ages.

Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 29–February 1) and credentialed press and industry (January 28–February 1).

U.S. Documentary CompetitionAll FeaturesBiographyLGBTQ+ StoriesWomen-Centered StoriesNonfictionClosed CaptionOpen CaptionPhotosensitivityU.S. Only- less

Screenings

in persononline
  • Jan 24, 5:45 PM MST
    Premiere

    The Ray Theatre

    Park City

    Closed CaptionClosed Caption

  • Jan 25, 6:00 PM MST
    Screening

    Megaplex Redstone - 4

    Park City

    Closed CaptionClosed Caption

  • Jan 28, 8:50 PM MST
    Screening

    Megaplex Redstone - 3

    Park City

    Closed CaptionClosed Caption

  • Jan 30, 8:45 PM MST
    Screening

    Library Center Theatre

    Park City

    Open CaptionOpen Caption

  • Jan 31, 11:15 AM MST
    Screening

    Broadway Centre Cinemas - 3

    Salt Lake City

    Closed CaptionClosed Caption

  • Jan 29, 3:00 PM GMT -
    Feb 2, 6:55 AM GMT
    Online Screening

    Closed CaptionClosed Caption

Credits

  • Director(s)

    Brydie O’Connor

  • Producer

    Elijah Stevens

    Brydie O’Connor

    Claire Edelman

  • Executive Producers

    Christine Vachon

    Matthew Perniciaro

  • Consulting Producer

    Zackary Drucker

    Jenni Olson

  • Editor

    Matt Hixon

  • Composer

    Taul Katz

  • Supervising Sound Editor

    Gisela Fullà Silvestre

  • Re-Recording Mixer

    Eli Cohn

  • Colorist

    CJ Julian

  • Archival Producer

    Brydie O’Connor

  • Company

    Space Time Films

  • Contact

    Elijah Stevens

    info@spacetimefilms.co

Meet the Artist

Panelist Name

Brydie O’Connor

  • Instagram

Brydie O’Connor is a Kansas-born, New York–based filmmaker. Her work activates archives through queering storytelling structures within the nonfiction space. Her past work includes the documentary shorts The Roaming Center for Magnetic Alternatives (2025), The Fault Line (2024), and Love, Barbara (2022), which was nominated for an IDA Award.

You May Also Like

U.S. Documentary Competition
sd_banner_img

The Lake

FilmUnFillFavIcon

An environmental nuclear bomb looms in Utah. Two intrepid scientists and a political insider race the clock to save their home from unprecedented catastrophe.

(1hr 33mins)
U.S. Documentary Competition
sd_banner_img

Soul Patrol

FilmUnFillFavIcon

From deep behind enemy lines, a hidden chapter of American military history is uncovered, prompting the question of whether reckoning with the past can bring peace to those who lived it. The Vietnam War’s first Black special operations team reunites to tell their story.

(1hr 40mins)
U.S. Documentary Competition
sd_banner_img

Nuisance Bear

FilmUnFillFavIcon

A polar bear is forced to navigate a human world of tourists, wildlife officers, and hunters as its ancient migration collides with modern life. When a sacred predator is branded a nuisance, it becomes unclear who truly belongs in this shared landscape.

(1hr 30mins)
World Cinema Documentary Competition
sd_banner_img

Birds of War

FilmUnFillFavIcon

The love story of a London-based Lebanese journalist and a Syrian activist and cameraman as told through 13 years of personal archives across revolutions, war, and exile.

(1hr 32mins)

FESTIVAL HOST STATE

Sponsor

FESTIVAL HOST STATE

FESTIVAL HOST STATE

FESTIVAL HOST STATE