Fantastic Fest 2011

Parke Gregg (Editor/Colorist), Lyman Hardy III (Sound Designer) and David Wingo (Composer) will be in attendance.

TAKE SHELTER questions dreams, faith, and trust, and challenges paranoia, fear, and anxiety. Curtis LaForche (Michael Shannon) is living a fairly good life. He has a roof over his head, a good job as a crew chief for a sand mining company, a loving wife named Samantha (Jessica Chastain), and an adorable young daughter named Hannah (Tova Stewart). The only hiccup in their road is Hannah's disability — she's recently become deaf, and Curtis' health insurance at his new job hasn't kicked in just yet, and she needs a cochlear implant.

When we first meet Curtis, he’s having strange dreams. They start with a wicked storm where the rain resembles motor oil, bad things happen, and LaForche wakes up screaming from real physical pain. Each dream gets progressively worse. Are they predicting the end of the world? Appearing so undeniably real, Curtis starts to confuse real life with the dream world. These nightmares haunt and eat at him. As paranoia starts to take a toll, he decides to build a living quarters underground, risking his job security, marriage, and friends.

TAKE SHELTER stars Michael Shannon, the greatest underrated actor Hollywood has ever had. One things that makes him so great is those sad, creepy eyes — he's proven to the world that you don't need a pretty face and all the right moves to have talent. This guy can captivate audience just by staring at a wall for 90 minutes.

Along with Lars von Trier’s MELANCHOLIA, TAKE SHELTER is proof that you don’t need to heavily rely on CGI to make a good story about the apocalypse. There is (limited) CGI in the film, but it's only there to give our story a little push. Writer/director (and Austin filmmaker!) Jeff Nichols flawlessly balances those effects with the most powerful way possible - human emotion. TAKE SHELTER is equally beautiful and haunting and when it takes refuge at Fantastic Fest this year, make sure you don’t miss it. (Chase Whale)