According to Deadline, Bleecker Street has acquired North American distribution rights to What They Had, a family drama about Alzheimer’s disease. Elizabeth Chomko makes her directorial debut, helming from her own Nicholl-winning screenplay.

Blythe Danner (Tumbledown) stars as Ruth, a woman with Alzheimer’s disease. Two-time Academy Award winning actress Hilary Swank (You’re Not You) plays Ruth’s daughter, who flies home to Chicago to handle a family crisis that ensues when Ruth wanders into a blizzard. Meanwhile, Ruth’s husband, played by Robert Forster (The Case for Christ) cannot bring himself to let go of how things used to be. Two-time Academy Award-nominated actor Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals) and Taissa Farmiga (Rules Don’t Apply) are also in the cast.

Keith Kjarval, Bill Holderman, Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa, Alex Saks and Andrew Duncan are producers. Executive producers are Swank, Wayne Godfrey, Robert Jones, Sefton Fincham, Levi Sheck and Mike Rowe.

Andrew Karpen CEO of Bleecker Street said, “I was incredibly moved by Elizabeth’s story of a family working through their collective issues and the heartache of dealing with a loved one affected by Alzheimer’s. We know audiences will relate to the characters’ love, compassion and humor in dealing with each other.”

What They Had has just finished production in Chicago and Los Angeles and will roll out in theaters in 2018.