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. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Teddy Awards, the film has been selected to be shown at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2016.

Part of the film focuses on the story of American novelist Willa Cather, who destroyed many personal letters and papers before her death the film argues that Cather was covering up evidence of lesbianism. Note, however, that such claims have been disputed by other scholars of Cathers life and career. Another section explores the treatment of lesbians by the Third Reich.Hammer received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts 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 mixedrace 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 dont have. Next, she met a lesbian couple who arrived to shoot their scene with SM 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 Juhaszs book Women of Vision Histories in Feminist Film and Video, Hammer called Nitrate Kisses her best work. ........

Source: Wikipedia