QUEEN AT SEA

QUEEN AT SEA

Directed by

Lance Hammer

United Kingdom, USA 2026 121 MIN

VIEW SCREENINGS
QUEEN AT SEA

Synopsis

Amanda and her stepfather Martin find themselves divided over the care of Amanda’s elderly mother, Leslie, whose advanced dementia has increasingly affected her ability to communicate and make decisions. Amanda begins to question whether Leslie can still determine what is genuinely in her own best interests, while Martin believes that their long marriage gives him a different understanding of what Leslie wants. As doctors, institutions, and eventually authorities become involved, decisions made in the name of protection produce increasingly complicated consequences for everyone.

Lance Hammer

Lance Hammer is an American filmmaker based in Los Angeles. He studied architecture at the University of Southern California before moving into cinema. His feature debut, Ballast (2008), premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival, where Hammer received the U.S. Dramatic Directing Award, and later competed at the Berlin International Film Festival. The film went on to receive four FIPRESCI prizes and six Independent Spirit Award nominations. After an extended absence from feature filmmaking, Hammer returned with Queen at Sea, his second feature, which won the Silver Bear Jury Prize at the 2026 Berlinale, where Anna Calder-Marshall and Tom Courtenay also shared the Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance. His filmmaking is characterised by visual restraint, intimate observation, and a close attention to families confronting emotionally and morally difficult situations.

Credits

Director
Lance Hammer
Screenplay
Lance Hammer
Cinematography
Adolpho Veloso
Editing
Lance Hammer
Sound Design
Kent Sparling
Cast
Juliette Binoche, Tom Courtenay, Anna Calder-Marshall, Florence Hunt, Steven Cree
Producers
Tristan Goligher, Lance Hammer (The Bureau, Alluvial Film Company)

Screenings

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