EVENT REVIEW: Barba Hammer: A Retrospective Screening

     I went Barbara Hammer's film screening, and also attended her lecture the following day. Her films were interesting, to say the least. The first film, the MC of the event referred to as a "lesbian commercial" and joked "some of you may become lesbians tonight." While watching that film, I found it to be like nothing I've ever seen before. This is likely because I have not viewed many queer films. While I appreciated the film for being revolutionary, I could not help be have to look away for a large part of it. This was not because of the content. It was because of the filming techniques. Barbara Hammer implemented some technique where she plays two scenes simultaneously layered on top of one another. This literally was hurting my eyes. I thought it was really cool, but my eyes physically could not handle it.
     The next film was the Superdyke film. I thought this was hilarious. A bunch of women were going about a normal day in the city, when all of a sudden, one of them gets hit by a bus. The Superdykes all rip their shirts off to reveal the Superdyke shirt underneath, and they all run to the rescue. It was entertaining and made me think of how superheroes are portrayed, and how there are more males than females, and how they all have hypersexualized bodies.
     The film in which Barbara Hammer traveled around the world was awesome. She went to places I've never seen and probably will never see. It was a simple film. It was just scenery and music. It was calming to the point that I almost fell asleep. I loved it because I love traveling and just enjoying views.
     The last film was about Maya Deren, and I honestly thought it was a horror movie when it began. It was eerie and had creepy music. I disliked this film partially because I had no previous knowledge of Maya Deren, and partially because I felt like it dragged on and on. But I could tell that it had a lot of technically advanced film work incorporated into it.
     I think I would have enjoyed the film screening more if I had a broader knowledge of film and media studies. I could tell that Barbara Hammer was a talented filmmaker, as I had never seen much of the techniques she employed, but I felt that I could not fully appreciate her work due to my lack of knowledge in the field.