Film Lens
Nitrate Kisses is a 1992 experimental documentary film directed by Barbara Hammer. The film addresses the repression and marginalization of LGBT individuals since the First World War, combining interviews with homosexual couples, footage from the 1933 film Lot in Sodom, and images of LGBT history. It features couples from diverse backgrounds, including two elderly lesbians, an interracial gay male couple, and two young women of color. The film also includes a focus on American novelist Willa Cather, who destroyed personal letters to conceal evidence of her lesbianism, and examines the treatment of lesbians during the Third Reich.
Hammer received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts for this project, which was her first feature film. The film premiered at the Toronto Festival of Festivals on September 12, 1992, and has been screened at various international film festivals. It won the Polar Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival and the Best Documentary Award in Madrid, reflecting its impact and recognition within the film community.
Why Watch
- •See interviews with diverse LGBT couples
- •Find out about Willa Cather's hidden life
- •Meet the first feature film by Barbara Hammer
Did You Know
•Nitrate Kisses premiered on September 12, 1992, at the Toronto Festival.
•The film features four couples, including an interracial gay male couple.
•It won the Polar Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival.
•Hammer filmed a lesbian couple in a sculpture of a burnt-out house.
Perfect For
LGBT historyExperimental film enthusiastsFeminist film studies