Anchor & Hope: Natalia Tena, Oona Chaplin & David Verdaguer Buck the Trend in Bittersweet LGBT Drama

Anchor & Hope has cracked it from the outset.

You know that LGBT drama has turned a corner, when instead of just another story about people coming out (or staying in), seedy affairs, queer bashing or an over the top ratio of the kind of sex rarely experienced by the average straight, or gay person for that matter, it’s simply about two women in love and navigating the fact that one of them wants a baby and one of them doesn’t.

The chemistry between female leads, Natalia Tena (Kat) and Oona Chaplin (Eva) is a wonderfully natural and tangible thing, probably due to them being long-time friends in real life, having met while working on Game of Thrones. Tena has also previously worked with David Verdaguer (on 10.000 km), who in this case plays Roger – third wheel, baby-maker and best friend of Kat. While Geraldine Chaplin, who plays Oona Chaplin’s eccentric mum (Germaine) is, well… you guessed it.

Kat and Eva live on a canal barge in London, and there’s a reason that’s an incredibly cool barge – it’s the real-life home of Natalia Tena. Given the natural surroundings and comfortable relationships, it’s no wonder that these four could simply get on with playing their seemingly familial roles with ease.

It all starts with Chorizo. Well… the death of Chorizo, their cat. An unusual, yet attentive ceremony performed by Eva’s mother opens up a more significant yearning for grieving Eva, who declares an urgent desire for her own baby. Kat, on the other hand, can barely contain her horror at the thought of giving up their easy-going, house-boat lifestyle.

Cue the arrival of Kat’s best friend, Roger from Barcelona, who couldn’t have arrived at a more apt (or unfortunate) time. While caught up in drunken celebrations of his arrival, Kat and Roger (who is way more obliging than his dear, old friend) agree to the donation of his ‘little fish’. And so the story begins…

Anchor & Hope, “stems from a mixture between all of the lives of the filmmakers, screenwriters, and actors,” explains director, Carlos Marques-Marcet (10.000 km). “By fusing our personal and professional lives, real and imaginary, I hope to reveal the kind of truth that only appears in the process of making a movie; I hope to capture that magical point at which character and actor completely fuse into one.”

Mission accomplished.

Anchor and Hope will be in UK Cinemas from 28th September.