Watching: Shelter

Overview

Shelter is a multi-layered experimental film that cleverly weaves archival social commentary and recent political activism in a playful analysis of our culture’s misplaced priorities. The film blends a variety of appropriated material — including a homeless demonstration during the gala premiere of an Atom Egoyan film at the Toronto Film Festival — with archival footage of circuses, westerns, and Pierre Burton discussing the pros and cons of building a bomb shelter. Shelter also celebrates the inherent qualities of the film medium, qualities that have quickly become marginalized through the current obsession with digital technology.