Brydie O’Connor’s Barbara Forever Wins Teddy Award at Berlinale 2026
Barbara Forever, the debut feature by Brydie O’Connor, is a documentary about filmmaker Barbara Hammer that secured the Teddy Award for best documentary at the 2026 Berlinale. The film made its debut at the Internationales Forum des jungen Films, where a discussion was facilitated by Stephanie Schulte Strathaus. Hammer, who passed away in 2019, had previously been featured in several Berlinale screenings and had received multiple Teddy Awards. O’Connor discovered Hammer’s films while studying history in Washington, D.C., and later met her in New York after 2017. Utilizing Hammer’s archival audio for narration, the film also includes a post-credit showing of Dyketactics (1974), emphasizing Hammer’s extensive body of work, her marriage, and her reflections on mortality following her cancer diagnosis.
Key facts
- Barbara Forever won the Teddy Award for best documentary at the 2026 Berlinale.
- The film is Brydie O’Connor’s feature debut and had its international premiere at the Internationales Forum des jungen Films.
- Barbara Hammer died in 2019; she had won multiple Teddy Awards and shown many works at the Berlinale.
- O’Connor first contacted Hammer directly to order DVDs while studying in Washington, D.C.
- Hammer’s widow, Florrie R. Burke, collaborated closely on the film; O’Connor previously made the short Love, Barbara (2022).
- The film uses Hammer’s own archival audio as narration, with Burke as the only talking head.
- A post-credit scene shows Hammer’s Dyketactics (1974) in full; it originally screened at the Berlinale in the 1980s.
- Hammer created over 80 films and maintained an extensive personal archive, including letters and ephemera.
Entities
Artists
- Barbara Hammer
- Brydie O’Connor
- Florrie R. Burke
- Stephanie Schulte Strathaus
- Joey Carducci
- Shirley Temple
- Florrie Burke
Institutions
- Berlinale
- Internationales Forum des jungen Films
- Teddy Award
- Monopol
- Film Forum
- Sundance Film Festival
Locations
- Berlin
- Germany
- New York
- United States
- Washington D.C.
- Kansas
- Hollywood
- New York City