FANTASY LIFE
Directed by Matthew Shear // 91 mins // Feature
After losing his job as a paralegal, Sam Stein suffers a panic attack and stumbles into a job babysitting his psychiatrist's three granddaughters. The girls' mother, Dianne, is an actor whose once-promising career has stalled; she's in a difficult marriage to David, a rock bassist. When David goes abroad on tour, Dianne and Sam discover an easy rapport as well as a shared history of mental illness. Sam joins Dianne's family to babysit for the summer on Martha's Vineyard, and he ends up in a house with the woman he pines for, her husband, the three kids, and all four grandparents, including his psychiatrist.
Special Appearance and Q&A
with Matthew Shear
Matthew Shear is a filmmaker and actor based in New York. He starred in Noah Baumbach's Mistress America, alongside Greta Gerwig, as well as the limited series The Alienist, opposite Dakota Fanning and Daniel Brühl. His other credits include Baumbach's The Meyerowitz Stories, M. Night Shyamalan's Old, The Boy Downstairs, and Between the Temples. Fantasy Life had its world premiere at SXSW '25 where it won the Narrative Feature Audience Award and a Special Jury Award for Amanda Peet’s performance. The film marks Matthew’s first feature as a writer/director.