EXCLUSIVE: U.S. director Lance Hammer returns to the Berlin Film Festival with his first film in 18 years, Queen At Sea, playing in competition, and Deadline can reveal a first teaser.
The drama co-stars Oscar-winning actress Juliette Binoche and Tom Courtenay, who won best actor at the Berlinale in 2015 for his performance in 45 Years.
Binoche plays a single mother squeezed between raising her teenage daughter and caring for her Alzheimer’s-afflicted mother (Anna Calder-Marshall), opposite Tom Courtenay as her stepfather, who may be abusing his spouse.
The story was sparked by real-life tales of dementia heard organically by Hammer, several of which had to do with ongoing sexual relationships where one of the partners was experiencing the illness.
“Families were struggling with impossible choices regarding agency and consent. When does someone lose the agency to make critical decisions on their own behalf? Who is responsible for determining this? A spouse, a child, an institution?” he says in a director’s note.
“It often takes someone from outside to help them see things have progressed more significantly than they realize.”
The film is produced by Tristan Goligher at The Bureau as well as Hammer under his Alluvial Film Company banner, and sold internationally by The Match Factory.