Lance Hammer's First Film in 18 Years Is One He Never Wanted to Make: I 'Was Kicking and Screaming Against It the Whole Time'

"While it seemed he was courting some "bankable" industry interest after "Ballast," and did some writing over the years, he decided he needed "to stop trying to create a piece of work or write a script that I think is commercially viable. That can't be an active part of the creative process," said Hammer a week before his second feature " Queen at Sea," a now-acclaimed drama about dementia, caregiving, and consent starring Juliette Binoche and Tom Courtenay ("45 Years"), brought him back to the Berlinale this year."

""As an American trying to find financing for films like 'Ballast,' or this one, is very difficult. It was pretty clear there's no way to make a living. I just have to write a story that I care about, something small and easy to produce. If that happens, I'll try to make it. I didn't want to make material I didn't care about. So I didn't.""

Lance Hammer waited 18 years between his debut and second feature. Ballast (2008), set in the Mississippi Delta, used a humanist approach to how a Black man's tragic death rippled through surrounding lives and earned major festival awards and critical praise. Hammer halted output rather than compromise artistically or chase commercial viability, choosing to live and write until a story small and producible emerged. He returned with Queen at Sea, a drama about dementia, caregiving, and consent starring Juliette Binoche and Tom Courtenay, navigating difficult financing conditions for American independent films.

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