Description of the award: Barbara Hammer was a filmmaker with a profound commitment to expressing a feminist point-of-view in her work. In 2020, filmmaker Lynne Sachs received the Oberhausen Film Festival Grand Prize for a film she made with and for Hammer. With funds from the prize, Lynne created this Ann Arbor Film Festival award for a work that best conveys Hammer’s passion for celebrating and examining the experiences of women. Qualifying work by artists of any gender will be considered.

Lynne and the Ann Arbor Film Festival are now beginning a campaign to increase the endowment for the $500 annual award from its present $5,000 to $15,000. Recently, a member of the Ann Arbor Board of Directors gave a much appreciated gift of $1,000, so they are now only $9,000 from the targeted number.  

If you would like to be part of this effort — and help to secure the sustainability of this unique project that looks both back at Barbara’s legacy and towards future creation of new feminist work — you can make a tax-deductible gift here: https://www.aafilmfest.org/barbara