Set in the here-and-now Mississippi Delta, Lance Hammer’s Ballast follows a trio of characters — a man in crisis and a single mother trying to keep ahead of disaster and her rootless son — in a very American setting with a very European sensibility. It is one that evokes the Dardenne brothers, one where the camera is hand-held but the emotions are kept at arm’s length. Hammer spoke with Cinematical at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival about his decision to work with non-professional actors, the news that Ballast will be playing at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, and what drew him to the Mississippi Delta for his debut: ‘There’s a sadness that lays upon the land (in the Delta) that’s very moving to me. ”

This interview, like all of Cinematical’s podcast offerings, is now available through iTunes; if you’d like, you can subscribe at this link.

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