Spring Break
Sundance-winning film to be screened in Bossone
Chris Sannino
Issue date: 11/7/08 Section: Arts & Entertainment
Filmmaker Lance Hammer will hold an exclusive sneak peak screening of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival Dramatic Directing Award-winner "Ballast" for Drexel students, staff and faculty in the Bossone Research Center Nov. 13 at 8 p.m.
"Ballast" is set in the present-day Mississippi Delta and follows the lives of three impoverished counterparts living in the rural Deep South. The film picks up in the aftermath of the suicide committed by main character Lawrence's identical twin brother. Along with the deceased twin's ex-wife Marlee, and her son James, the characters are forced to face obstacles of violence and racial unrest while trying to make ends meet.
Already acclaimed by The New York Times, Rolling Stone and NPR, "Ballast" paints a picture of the inherent beauty present in the muddy, depressing landscape where Hammer's characters reside. In efforts to transfer the raw emotion of the actual region, the cast consisted of basically untrained actors with little script. This gave the actors great freedom over their roles and created a scene that transcends the Hollywood that Hammer had recently left behind.
"I thought to myself, 'I'll make a film invisibly and not use actors and not think about its commercial viability'," Hammer told The New York Times.
The idea for a film based in the less-privileged region of our countries South came to Hammer 10 years prior. While driving around Tennessee, which houses the northernmost point of the Mississippi Delta, Hammer felt urged to venture south to the origin of the delta plains to find that the conflict and grief was more than he was qualified to depict.
After spending time in Hollywood as a studio art director, a failed project played catalyst in his return to the South for a clean start and a different kind of film.
Even Hammer's distribution methods stray from the Hollywood norm as he has taken on the responsibility personally. Deciding against an established distribution company, he deals directly with marketing and distribution from city to city and festival to festival.
Hammer will be present at Drexel to discuss his film and his inventive methods for producing it. "Ballast" makes its Philadelphia premiere on Nov. 14, but the Drexel community is invited to the advance Nov. 13 screening for free with a Drexel ID.
"Ballast" is set in the present-day Mississippi Delta and follows the lives of three impoverished counterparts living in the rural Deep South. The film picks up in the aftermath of the suicide committed by main character Lawrence's identical twin brother. Along with the deceased twin's ex-wife Marlee, and her son James, the characters are forced to face obstacles of violence and racial unrest while trying to make ends meet.
Already acclaimed by The New York Times, Rolling Stone and NPR, "Ballast" paints a picture of the inherent beauty present in the muddy, depressing landscape where Hammer's characters reside. In efforts to transfer the raw emotion of the actual region, the cast consisted of basically untrained actors with little script. This gave the actors great freedom over their roles and created a scene that transcends the Hollywood that Hammer had recently left behind.
"I thought to myself, 'I'll make a film invisibly and not use actors and not think about its commercial viability'," Hammer told The New York Times.
The idea for a film based in the less-privileged region of our countries South came to Hammer 10 years prior. While driving around Tennessee, which houses the northernmost point of the Mississippi Delta, Hammer felt urged to venture south to the origin of the delta plains to find that the conflict and grief was more than he was qualified to depict.
After spending time in Hollywood as a studio art director, a failed project played catalyst in his return to the South for a clean start and a different kind of film.
Even Hammer's distribution methods stray from the Hollywood norm as he has taken on the responsibility personally. Deciding against an established distribution company, he deals directly with marketing and distribution from city to city and festival to festival.
Hammer will be present at Drexel to discuss his film and his inventive methods for producing it. "Ballast" makes its Philadelphia premiere on Nov. 14, but the Drexel community is invited to the advance Nov. 13 screening for free with a Drexel ID.
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