Barbara Forever

Barbara Forever, a documentary about pioneering lesbian filmmaker Barbara Hammer, has its Ohio premiere at the Wexner Center for the Arts on Saturday, October 24. The screening runs from 1:30 PM to 3:15 PM in the Film/Video Theater, and director Brydie O'Connor will be there in person. Afterward, O'Connor sits down for a conversation with Jennifer Lange, director of the Wex's Film/Video Studio.

If you aren't familiar with Hammer, she was an iconic figure in queer cinema, and the Wexner Center has a long history of supporting her work. In 2019, they premiered her final project, Evidentiary Bodies, an immersive video installation shown as part of the posthumous exhibition Barbara Hammer: In This Body. Barbara Forever continues that connection. Executive produced by Kristen Stewart, the film draws on more than 80 of Hammer's films and a vast archive of unreleased material. It presents her as one of the first to put a full lesbian life on screen and as an artist whose work broke taboos around female sexuality, aging, illness, and queer love.

The screening is part of Unorthodocs, the Wexner Center's annual festival of creative nonfiction filmmaking, now in its 10th year. The festival runs from October 22 to 26 and is part of the 2026 FotoFocus Biennial: The Long View. So if you're already planning to spend a few days at the Wex that week, this fits right into the middle of it.

Tickets are $12 for the general public, $8 for members, $9 for adults 55 and over, and $6 for students. The screening is at the Film/Video Theater, 1871 N. High Street, Columbus, OH 43210, from 1:30 PM to 3:15 PM on Saturday, October 24.