Hamnet

Oscar® winner Chloé Zhao returns to the big screen with HAMNET. The film adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's acclaimed novel, which Zhao co-wrote with O'Farrell, tells the story of William Shakespeare's family. From the perspective of his sensitive wife Agnes, we see how she falls in love with the great bard and how the two plan a life together. When their only son Hamnet dies of the plague at the age of eleven, their great love threatens to suffocate. In the midst of this terrible personal tragedy, Shakespeare, in deep despair and grief, begins to write Hamlet, one of the great dramas of literary history.

The eponymous novel by Maggie O'Farrell was published in 2020, received rave reviews and won the British Women's Prize for Fiction and the American National Book Critics Circle Award. HAMNET was produced by Liza Marshall, Pippa Harris and Nicolas Gonda, as well as legendary Oscar® winners Sam Mendes and Steven Spielberg.

Chloé Zhao assembled a fantastic ensemble cast for her film, which celebrated its world premiere in Telluride and won the prestigious Audience Award at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. HAMNET stars the impressive Jessie Buckley (The Woman in the Dark, The Pronouncement) and Gladiator star Paul Mescal (All of Us Strangers). They are joined by Emily Watson (Breaking the Waves, Dune: Prophecy) and Joe Alwyn (The Favourite, The Brutalist), among others.