HAMMER!: Making Movies Out of Sex and Life

by Barbara Hammer

Overview

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, and her search for meaning as she contemplates mortality in the 2000s—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.

HAMMER! was the winner for the 2010 Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781558616851
Publisher:	Feminist Press at CUNY, The
Publication date:	03/01/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

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. She received the first Shirley Clarke Avant-Garde Filmmaker Award in October 2006, the Women In Film Award from the St. Louis International Film Festival in 2006, and the Teddy Award for best short film for A Horse Is Not A Metaphor at the 2009 International Berlin Film Festival.

Table of Contents

Introduction: I think l've always wanted to live up to my name. 8

70s

Introduction: The 70s were a glorious time of feminist ideals and lesbian bed-hopping. 26

My Life as Henry Miller 28

Photos 57

Use of Time in Women's Cinema 85

Stillness in Motion: A Study of Relationship and Film 92

Lesbian Filmmaking: Self-Birthing 99

80s

Introduction: Ever since I became an artist, I had wanted to move to New York City. 108

International Audiences: Personal Experiences of a Filmmaker 112

Touching and Receiving: A Lesbian Aesthetic 119

White Out 124

For an Active Cinema 128

Photos 133

Conference Sex (or The Names Have Not Been Changed as There Are No Innocents) 151

After Gertrude Stein 154

Change of Location: Bodies of Flesh to Bodies of Earth/Water 157

Lesbian Mainstream: Economics vs. Radical Play 159

Creative-Teaching Spaces: Home Movies 161

The Artist as Teacher: Problems and Experiments 166

Some Thoughts on Institutional Support, by a Media Artist 175

The Invisible Screen: Lesbian Cinema 177

90s

Introduction: By the end of the 80s, I was fed up with compromising my filmmaking. 186

Risk-Taking as Alternative Living/Art-Making: or, Why I Moved to the Big City 190

Coming into Our Fullness: On Women Turning Forty 194

The Politics of Abstraction 200

When a Kiss Is Not a Kiss but Nitrate 204

Photos 207

Censorship 222

00s

Introduction: Aging is interesting. 232

Maya Deren and Me 234

Resisting Paradise 238

Tender Fictions 241

Photos 246

Wishes 258

The Ephemeral Archive 260

The Creative Process 264

Acknowledgments 267

Filmography 268

Index 271

Editorial Reviews

"Queer, feminist experimental-filmmaking pioneer Barbara Hammer's autobiography is one in the truest sense—it reveals her personality and her philosophies on art and, at the same time, becomes a key part of her legacy." —Library Journal

"What an amazingly inspirational book, filled with powerful stories and beautiful images. I truly love and recommend it.” —Sadie Benning, artist

“Barbara Hammer’s genius is an erotic genius, one rich in intuitive intelligence. HAMMER! reveals a spirit that is at once youthful and worldly, full of conviction, and often optimistic, bold, ravenous, and celebratory.” —Cecilia Dougherty, artist

“A brilliant and shimmering feast of art and activism. Barbara’s fearless queer intelligence illuminates every page.” —John Greyson, filmmaker

“Now the gift of Hammer’s sounds and images is matched by that of her words. Beautifully designed and illustrated, HAMMER! is a striking book, from its title to its impact.” —Patricia White, author of Uninvited: Classical Hollywood Cinema and Lesbian Representability

“A candid and colorful memoir, HAMMER! offers valuable primary source material and original feminist film theory by a pioneer of avant-garde American cinema.” —Livia Bloom, film curator

“Barbara Hammer is a true cinematic pioneer; her tremendous body of work continues to inspire audiences and artists alike.” —Jenni Olson, filmmaker

From the Publisher