PREVIOUSLY AT FILM FORUM
Opened October 1, 2008

BALLAST WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY LANCE HAMMER

"A startlingly assured, pitch-perfect first feature."
– Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

“A journey of discovery that forces us to cast off the clichés of race, poverty and existence in the Deep South.”
– Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly


"The film has a gathering artistic and emotional force that's hard to shake. Tarra Riggs is a true force of nature - volatile, acutely sensitive, industrious. She earned my tears and all my heart."
– Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

"Beautiful. The film bears patient witness to what could be described as the nearly invisible movement of souls."
– Amy Taubin, Film Comment

"The one indisputably great film at Sundance '08… a striking debut for the writer-director Lance Hammer. His poetic and profound movie transcends categories and announces the arrival of a major new filmmaker."
– Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

WINNER, BEST DIRECTOR AWARD, 2008 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL. A young boy drifts through the spare flatlands of a wintry Mississippi township and a middle-aged man sits in his rural home, frozen in grief after his brother’s suicide. These striking images set in motion a riveting story of three people trying to reposition their lives after experiencing a traumatic loss. Lance Hammer has been compared to the Dardenne Brothers, for the assured hand with which he tells a delicate, quietly unfolding story using understated means and non-professionals from the Mississippi Delta. “The one indisputably great film at Sundance ’08… (This) poetic and profound movie transcends categories and announces the arrival of a major new filmmaker.” — Peter Travers, Rolling Stone.

Listen to our podcast:
Q & A with director LANCE HAMMER
and cinematographer LOL CRAWLEY
(Recorded October 1, 2008)

USA • 2008 • 96 MINS • Alluvial Film Company