Ballast

In the cold, winter light of a rural Mississippi Delta township, a man’s suicide radically transforms three characters’ lives and throws off-balance what has long been a static arrangement among them. Marlee is a single mother struggling to scratch a living for herself and James, her 12-year-old son, who has begun to stumble under drug and violence pressures. So when the opportunity to seek safe harbor at a new home arises, she grabs it, though the property is shared by Lawrence, a man with whom Marlee has feuded bitterly since James’s birth. With circumstances thrusting them into proximity, a subtle interdependence and common purpose emerge for Marlee and Lawrence as they navigate grief, test new waters and tentatively move forward.
Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.
Script: Lance Hammer
Cinematography: Lol Crawley
Editing: Lance Hammer
Sound: Sam Watson, Julia Shirar, Kent Sparling
Actors: Micheal J. Smith, Sr. (Lawrence), Jim Myron Ross (James), Tarra Riggs (Marlee), Johnny McPhail (John)
Production: Alluvial Film Company
Producers: Lance Hammer, Nina Parikh
Art Direction: Mary Goodson
Costumes: Caroline Eselin- Schaefer
Production Design: Jerel Levanway
Format: 35mm Color
Production Country: USA
Production Year: 2008
Duration: 96
Distribution in Greece: Seven Films,Ioannis DrepasT.-F. +30 210 3818777drepas@sevenfims.grwww.sevenfilms.gr
Contact: Celluloid Dreams, FranceT. +33 1 4970 0370F. +33 1 4970 0371info@celluloid-dreams.comwww.celluloid-dreams.com

Lance Hammer

He was born in Ventura, California in 1967. He graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in Architecture and worked as an Art Director in the studio film system. He resides in Los Angeles. Ballast, screened at this year’s Competition Section of Berlin IFF 2008, is his first feature as a writer and director.

Filmography

2002 Issaquena (short)
2008 Ballast