''Anchor and Hope'' () is a 2017 Spanish-British romantic

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film directed by Carlos Marques-Marcet. The screenplay, written by Marques-Marcet and Jules Nurrish, was inspired by ''Maternidades subversivas'' by María Llopis (Spain, 2015). It stars

Oona Chaplin Oona Castilla Chaplin (; born 4 June 1986) is a Spanish-Swiss-British actress. Her roles include Talisa Maegyr in the HBO TV series ''Game of Thrones'', Kitty Trevelyan in the BBC drama '' The Crimson Field'', and Zilpha Geary in the series ...

Natalia Tena Natalia Gastiain Tena (born 1 November 1984) is a British actress and musician. She is best known for playing Nymphadora Tonks in the ''Harry Potter'' film series (2007–2011), and the wildling Osha in the HBO series ''Game of Thrones'' ( ...

David Verdaguer David Verdaguer Ruiz (born 28 September 1983) is a Spanish actor and comedian. His career include works both in Spanish and Catalan such as ''10,000 km'' (2014), ''Summer 1993'' (2017), for which he received the Goya Award for Best Supporting Act ...

, and

Geraldine Chaplin Geraldine Leigh Chaplin (born July 31, 1944) is an American actress whose long career has included multilingual roles in English, Spanish, French, Italian and German films. Geraldine is a daughter of Charlie Chaplin, the first of his eigh ...

. The film had its world premiere at the

BFI London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival held in London, England, in collaboration with the British Film Institute. Founded in 1957, the festival runs for two weeks every October. In 2016, the BFI estimated that around 240 fe ...

on 10 October 2017.

Plot

Eva and Kat's humble, yet carefree, life in their London canal boat is turned upside down when Eva gives Kat an ultimatum: she wants a child. Kat resists, knowing that it will end the bohemian lifestyle she's always envisaged with Eva. When Kat's best friend from Barcelona, Roger, stops by to party with them, the three toy around with the idea of creating a baby together. Feeling backed into a corner, Kat consents. Surprisingly, the unusual do-it-yourself donor insemination is successful. As Eva enjoys her pregnancy and Roger fantasizes about his role in the new family, Kat begins to feel like a third wheel and starts to distance herself. When Eva has an unexpected miscarriage, everyone's true feelings are laid bare, leading Eva and Kat to break up while Roger prepares to go back to Barcelona. The three soon realize, however, that they can't survive without each other, and a new journey begins to build a family.

Cast

as Eva *

as Kat *

as Roger *

as Germaine * Becky Bullman as Vicky *

Lara Rossi Lara Rossi is a British actress who trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. She is most known for her role as Arabela Seeger in the German-French-Italian-American television series ''Crossing Lines,'' Finnish sci-fi movie '' Iro ...

as Jinx

Development and production

The screenplay was influenced by the 2015 political book ''Maternidades subversivas'' by María Llopis.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

began in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on 5 September 2016. ''Anchor and Hope'' was produced by Lastor Media, Vennerfilm, and La Panda Productions, with financing also provided by the Department of Culture of the

Generalitat de Catalunya The Generalitat de Catalunya (; ; ), or the Government of Catalonia, is the institutional system by which Catalonia is self-governed as an autonomous community of Spain. It is made up of the Parliament of Catalonia, the President of the Govern ...

and the

MEDIA Programme The MEDIA sub-programme of Creative Europe or simply Creative Europe MEDIA (formerly The MEDIA Programme of the European Union) is designed to support the European film and audiovisual industries. Administration MEDIA is an abbreviation from Fre ...

Creative Europe Creative Europe is a European Union programme for the cultural and creative sectors. In its first phase, going from 2014 to 2020, it had a budget of € 1.47 billion, which were expanded to € 2.44 billion in its second phase (2021-2027). His ...

. Avalon Distribución acquired the distribution rights in Spain for ''Tierra firme'' (''Anchor and Hope'') in August 2017. International rights for ''Anchor and Hope'' was acquired by Visit Films in October 2017. In May 2018, Network acquired the distribution rights to the United Kingdom from Visit Films, with rights to the United States picked up by Wolfe Releasing.

Release

''Anchor and Hope'' held its world premiere on 10 October 2017 at the BFI London Film Festival. It premiered theatrically in Spain on 24 November 2017, and in the United Kingdom on 28 September 2018.

Home media

''Anchor and Hope'' became available as

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

in the United States on 20 November 2018. The

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

was released by

Wolfe Video Wolfe Video is the oldest and largest exclusive producer and distributor of LGBT films in North America. Founded in 1985 in New Almaden by Kathy Wolfe, the company began as a consumer mail order distribution company for lesbian VHS videos but ha ...

in Region 1 on 27 November 2018. In the U.S., the film became available for

streaming Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

on 15 February 2019.

Reception

Critical response

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, ''Anchor and Hope'' has a 76% rating based on 29 reviews, and an average rating of 6.6/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a score of 67 (out of 100) based on 9 reviews from mainstream critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". It was named one of the "best queer films of 2018" by '' IndieWire''. Female-centered film productions reviewer ''Womentainment'' said Eva and Kat's story was presented "in the most honest, heartfelt and beautiful way."

Accolades

, - , rowspan = "13" align = "center" , 2018 , ,

5th Feroz Awards The 5th award ceremony of the Feroz Awards was held at Polideportivo Antonio Magariños, in Madrid, on January 22, 2018. It was hosted by Julián López and aired on #0. Winners and nominees The nominees were announced on December 5, 2017. The ...

, , colspan = "2" , Best Comedy Film , , , , , - , rowspan = "11" ,

10th Gaudí Awards The 10th Gaudí Awards, organised by the Catalan Film Academy, were presented at the Forum Auditorium in Barcelona on 28 January 2018. The gala was hosted by David Verdaguer. Winners and nominees The nominations were read by Alex Brendemühl ...

, , colspan = "2" , Best Film Not in the Catalan Language , , , , rowspan = "11" , , - , Best Director , , Carlos Marques-Marcet , , , - , Best Screenplay , , Carlos Marques-Marcet, Jules Nurrish , , , - , Best Actress , , Oona Chaplin , , , - , Best Actor , , David Verdaguer , , , - , Best Production Supervision , , Sergi Moreno, Sophie Venner , , , - , Best Art Direction , , Tim Dickel , , , - , Best Supporting Actress , , Natalia Tena , , , - , Best Cinematography , , Dagmar Weaver-Madsen , , , - , Best Costume Design , , Vinyet Escobar , , , - , Best Sound , , Diego Casares, Jonathan Darch, Dani Zacharias , , , - ,

27th Actors and Actresses Union Awards The 27th Actors and Actresses Union Awards were held on 12 March 2018 at the Circo Price in Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitan ...

, , Best Film Actress in a Minor Role , , Geraldine Chaplin , , , ,

References

British Board of Film Classification The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is a non-governmental organization, non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of films exhibited ...

''Tierra firme (Anchor and Hope)''
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

''Anchor and Hope''
at Lumiere {{Portal bar, Spain, United Kingdom, LGBTQ 2017 films 2017 LGBTQ-related films 2017 romantic comedy-drama films British independent films British LGBTQ-related films British romantic comedy-drama films Spanish independent films Spanish LGBTQ-related films Spanish romantic comedy-drama films Lesbian-related films LGBTQ-related romantic comedy-drama films 2017 independent films Films directed by Carlos Marques-Marcet 2010s British films 2010s English-language films 2010s Spanish-language films English-language romantic comedy-drama films Spanish-language romantic comedy-drama films