Almost two decades after his last feature Ballast, Lance Hammer returns to screen in the spotlight of the Berlinale Competition. There the US-American director turns his contemplative gaze at dementia and the devastating toll it takes, both on the elderly character suffering from the illness and her deeply conflicted relatives. Set against the fragile social and familiar worlds of its characters, Queen at Sea turns its realist lens on mental collapse, systemic neglect, and corroding relationships. On site at the Berlinale, speaks about the long development of the story, the extensive research that went into portraying dementia with authenticity rather than sentimentality, and the primal fears his film aims to address.