Nitrate Kisses
Encyclopedia
Nitrate Kisses is a 1992
experimental
documentary film
directed by Barbara Hammer
. According to Hammer, it is an exploration of the repression and marginalization of LGBT
people since the First World War
.
film Lot in Sodom
and images of LGBT history. The couples making love are two elderly lesbians, an interracial gay male couple, two young pierced
and tattoo
ed women of color
and an S/M lesbian couple. The scenes of the gay male couple are overlaid with the Motion Picture Production Code. Part of the film focuses on the story of Willa Cather
, a lesbian
novelist who tried to destroy all evidence of her sexual orientation before she died. Another section explores the treatment of lesbians by the Third Reich.
to help finance Nitrate Kisses, which was her first feature film
. She decided she wanted to make a film about the most marginalized groups within the queer
community. When choosing which couples to film having sex, she decided to feature a mixed-race couple and asked two friends of hers, Jack Waters and Peter Cramer. She then met a young lesbian couple who were both women of color, and were pierced and tattooed, with shaved heads. She filmed them making love in a sculpture of a burnt out house, which Hammer felt represented "a history we don't have." Next, she met a lesbian couple who arrived to shoot their scene with S/M paraphernalia. When looking for her fourth couple, Hammer decided that she wanted to explore ageism
in the lesbian community. She went to an awards ceremony for older lesbians and chose a woman called Frances Lorraine who performed in the film with a friend. In an interview for Alexandra Juhasz's book Women of Vision: Histories in Feminist Film and Video, Hammer called Nitrate Kisses her best work.
d at the Toronto Film Festival on September 12, 1992 and has been shown at several other film festivals internationally. It was shown theatrically in New York
, Los Angeles
, San Francisco, Chicago
and Austin
, distributed by Strand Releasing
. It was released on VHS
on December 16, 1998.
It was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival
. It won the Polar Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival
and the Best Documentary Award at the Internacional de Cine Realizado por Mujeres in Madrid
.
1992 in film
The year 1992 in film involved many significant films. -Top grossing films:-Awards:Academy AwardsGolden Globe AwardsNational Film Awards...
experimental
Experimental film
Experimental film or experimental cinema is a type of cinema. Experimental film is an artistic practice relieving both of visual arts and cinema. Its origins can be found in European avant-garde movements of the twenties. Experimental cinema has built its history through the texts of theoreticians...
documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
directed by Barbara Hammer
Barbara Hammer
Barbara Hammer is an American filmmaker in the genre of experimental films and a professor at European Graduate School in Saas-Fee.-Biography:...
. According to Hammer, it is an exploration of the repression and marginalization of LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
people since the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
Overview
Nitrate Kisses combines interviews with homosexual couples, four same-sex couples making love, footage of 1933 homoeroticHomoeroticism
Homoeroticism refers to the erotic attraction between members of the same sex, either male–male or female–female , most especially as it is depicted or manifested in the visual arts and literature. It can also be found in performative forms; from theatre to the theatricality of uniformed movements...
film Lot in Sodom
Lot in Sodom
Lot in Sodom is a short silent experimental film, based on the Biblical tale of the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. It was directed by James Sibley Watson and Melville Webber....
and images of LGBT history. The couples making love are two elderly lesbians, an interracial gay male couple, two young pierced
Body piercing
Body piercing, a form of body modification, is the practice of puncturing or cutting a part of the human body, creating an opening in which jewelry may be worn. The word piercing can refer to the act or practice of body piercing, or to an opening in the body created by this act or practice...
and tattoo
Tattoo
A tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...
ed women of color
Person of color
Person of color is a term used, primarily in the United States, to describe all people who are not white. The term is meant to be inclusive among non-white groups, emphasizing common experiences of racism...
and an S/M lesbian couple. The scenes of the gay male couple are overlaid with the Motion Picture Production Code. Part of the film focuses on the story of Willa Cather
Willa Cather
Willa Seibert Cather was an American author who achieved recognition for her novels of frontier life on the Great Plains, in works such as O Pioneers!, My Ántonia, and The Song of the Lark. In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours , a novel set during World War I...
, a lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
novelist who tried to destroy all evidence of her sexual orientation before she died. Another section explores the treatment of lesbians by the Third Reich.
Background
Hammer received funding from the National Endowment for the ArtsNational Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
to help finance Nitrate Kisses, which was her first feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
. She decided she wanted to make a film about the most marginalized groups within the queer
Queer
Queer is an umbrella term for sexual minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary. In the context of Western identity politics the term also acts as a label setting queer-identifying people apart from discourse, ideologies, and lifestyles that typify mainstream LGBT ...
community. When choosing which couples to film having sex, she decided to feature a mixed-race couple and asked two friends of hers, Jack Waters and Peter Cramer. She then met a young lesbian couple who were both women of color, and were pierced and tattooed, with shaved heads. She filmed them making love in a sculpture of a burnt out house, which Hammer felt represented "a history we don't have." Next, she met a lesbian couple who arrived to shoot their scene with S/M paraphernalia. When looking for her fourth couple, Hammer decided that she wanted to explore ageism
Ageism
Ageism, also called age discrimination is stereotyping of and discrimination against individuals or groups because of their age. It is a set of beliefs, attitudes, norms, and values used to justify age based prejudice, discrimination, and subordination...
in the lesbian community. She went to an awards ceremony for older lesbians and chose a woman called Frances Lorraine who performed in the film with a friend. In an interview for Alexandra Juhasz's book Women of Vision: Histories in Feminist Film and Video, Hammer called Nitrate Kisses her best work.
Distribution and reception
Nitrate Kisses premierePremiere
A premiere is generally "a first performance". This can refer to plays, films, television programs, operas, symphonies, ballets and so on. Premieres for theatrical, musical and other cultural presentations can become extravagant affairs, attracting large numbers of socialites and much media...
d at the Toronto Film Festival on September 12, 1992 and has been shown at several other film festivals internationally. It was shown theatrically in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, San Francisco, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, distributed by Strand Releasing
Strand Releasing
Strand Releasing is a theatrical distribution company founded in 1989 and is based in Culver City, California. The company has distributed over 300 auteur driven titles from acclaimed international and American directors such as Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Gregg Araki, Francois Ozon, Jean Luc...
. It was released on VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
on December 16, 1998.
It was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
. It won the Polar Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
and the Best Documentary Award at the Internacional de Cine Realizado por Mujeres in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
.