Tender Fictions
Encyclopedia
Tender Fictions is a 1996 autobiographical documentary film directed by American experimental filmmaker Barbara Hammer
. It is the second of a trilogy of documentary films that includes Nitrate Kisses
and History Lessons. Together, the three films are sometimes known as the "History trilogy". Tender Fictions details Hammer's life and her attempts to "construct" a self
. The film was nominated for a prize at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival
.
urges the viewer to preserve and document lesbian history for future generations. Hammer decided to create an autobiography, "before someone [did] it for [her]." The intention of Nitrate Kisses had been to explore the "making" of history, and who it is made by, with a particular emphasis on the "lost" history of lesbians and gay men. In making Tender Fictions, Hammer extended the ideas from Nitrate Kisses, and focused them on the nature of the autobiography. Her 2000 film History Lessons rounded off a trilogy of films about LGBT history that is called her "History trilogy".
, photographs, interviews, sounds and quotations. It details Hammer's childhood as a young girl born into a Jewish-Ukrainian family, with a mother who wanted her to be like child actress Shirley Temple
, and a grandmother who worked as a cook for actress Lillian Gish
. It chronicles her life in the 1960s and the moment in 1970 when she first heard the word lesbian, and realized that it applied to her.
According to Hammer, and to film academic Gwendolyn Audrey Foster
, a central theme of Tender Fictions is the "constructedness" of biographies and autobiographies and, by extension, the self
. To find her sense of self, Hammer explores the lives and works of artists including D. W. Griffith
, Charlie Chaplin
and Shirley Temple. In the film, she says "I invented myself as an artist by reading autobiographies of famous artists, poets, painters. None of these were by or about lesbians".
and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. It also played at the Berlin International Film Festival
, the Ann Arbor Film Festival
, the Charlotte Film and Video Festival and the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival
.
Writing for Variety
, Emanuel Levy
called the film "a frustrating experience". He said that parts were interesting but there was "too much narration" and that ultimately the film was "exhausting and not much fun to watch." He also said that it was "best suited for gay and lesbian festivals."
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:...
. It is the second of a trilogy of documentary films that includes Nitrate Kisses
Nitrate Kisses
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.-Overview:...
and History Lessons. Together, the three films are sometimes known as the "History trilogy". Tender Fictions details Hammer's life and her attempts to "construct" a self
Self (psychology)
The psychology of self is the study of either the cognitive and affective representation of one's identity or the subject of experience. The earliest formulation of the self in modern psychology derived from the distinction between the self as I, the subjective knower, and the self as Me, the...
. The film was nominated for a prize at the 1996 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...
.
Background
At the end of Hammers's 1992 experimental documentary film Nitrate Kisses, writer Joan NestleJoan Nestle
Joan Nestle is a Lambda Award winning writer and editor and the co-founder of the Lesbian Herstory Archives.-Life:Nestle's father died before she was born, and she was raised by her widowed mother Regina Nestle, a bookkeeper in New York City's garment district, whom she credits with inspiring her...
urges the viewer to preserve and document lesbian history for future generations. Hammer decided to create an autobiography, "before someone [did] it for [her]." The intention of Nitrate Kisses had been to explore the "making" of history, and who it is made by, with a particular emphasis on the "lost" history of lesbians and gay men. In making Tender Fictions, Hammer extended the ideas from Nitrate Kisses, and focused them on the nature of the autobiography. Her 2000 film History Lessons rounded off a trilogy of films about LGBT history that is called her "History trilogy".
Content
The film contains a collage of old home moviesHome movies
A home movie is part of the motion picture filmmaking process made by amateurs, often for viewing by family and friends. When the hobby began, home movies were produced on photographic film, but accessibility of video production with video cameras and low cost data storage devices has made the...
, photographs, interviews, sounds and quotations. It details Hammer's childhood as a young girl born into a Jewish-Ukrainian family, with a mother who wanted her to be like child actress Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...
, and a grandmother who worked as a cook for actress Lillian Gish
Lillian Gish
Lillian Diana Gish was an American stage, screen and television actress whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 to 1987....
. It chronicles her life in the 1960s and the moment in 1970 when she first heard the word lesbian, and realized that it applied to her.
According to Hammer, and to film academic Gwendolyn Audrey Foster
Gwendolyn Audrey Foster
Gwendolyn Audrey Foster is a professor in the Department of English, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, specializing in film studies, cultural studies, and Postfeminist Critical Theory...
, a central theme of Tender Fictions is the "constructedness" of biographies and autobiographies and, by extension, the self
Self (psychology)
The psychology of self is the study of either the cognitive and affective representation of one's identity or the subject of experience. The earliest formulation of the self in modern psychology derived from the distinction between the self as I, the subjective knower, and the self as Me, the...
. To find her sense of self, Hammer explores the lives and works of artists including D. W. Griffith
D. W. Griffith
David Llewelyn Wark Griffith was a premier pioneering American film director. He is best known as the director of the controversial and groundbreaking 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance .Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation made pioneering use of advanced camera...
, Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
and Shirley Temple. In the film, she says "I invented myself as an artist by reading autobiographies of famous artists, poets, painters. None of these were by or about lesbians".
Release and reception
Tender Fictions was screened at the 1996 Sundance Film FestivalSundance 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...
and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. It also played 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...
, the Ann Arbor Film Festival
Ann Arbor Film Festival
The Ann Arbor Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Ann Arbor in the U.S. state of Michigan. Established in 1963, it is the third-oldest film festival in North America ; and the oldest experimental film festival...
, the Charlotte Film and Video Festival and the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival
Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival
The Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival is a documentary film festival held biennially in Yamagata, Japan.It was first held in October 1989, which makes it one of the longest running documentary film festivals in the world and the most distinguished such festival in Asia...
.
Writing for Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy is an American film critic and professor.-Life:Emanuel Levy began his studies at Tel Aviv University, where he received B.A. in sociology, anthropology and political science. He did graduate work in sociology, film, and culture studies at Columbia University, where he earned a Ph.D...
called the film "a frustrating experience". He said that parts were interesting but there was "too much narration" and that ultimately the film was "exhausting and not much fun to watch." He also said that it was "best suited for gay and lesbian festivals."