Fantasy Life
New York Jewish Film Festival 2026
January 14 - 28
Matthew Shear’s comic drama stars Amanda Peet as a wealthy but depressed mom who bonds over shared neuroses with a newly unemployed man who’s babysitting three girls. Preceded by Jack Feldstein’s Animated New Yorkers: Joel.
In this captivating comic drama of modern anxiety, first-time writer-director-actor Matthew Shear (who’s appeared in films by Noah Baumbach and Nathan Silver) weaves an unexpected tale of connection. Amanda Peet stars as Dianne, a wealthy but depressed middle-aged mom whose life intersects with newly laid-off paralegal Sam (Shear) when he’s hired—by his therapist—to babysit her three daughters while her husband (Alessandro Nivola) is away chasing his dreams to become a rock star. As Sam and Dianne find surprising intimacies by bonding over shared neuroses about lives they no longer feel they control, Fantasy Life reveals itself as a deeply honest character study, culminating in an emotional blowout family dinner. The brilliant cast also stars Judd Hirsch, Andrea Martin, Bob Balaban, Jessica Harper, and Zosia Mamet.
Preceded by:
Animated New Yorkers: Joel
Jack Feldstein, 2024, U.S., 6m
New York Premiere
Animator Jack Feldstein returns to NYJFF with a portrait of a former ultra-Orthodox Jewish man describing his first ever physical encounter with a woman.
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