In the not-distant future, a disastrous radioactive event has obliterated most of civilization. Yet somewhere deep in the American South is a valley that remains untouched; evidence of a micro-climate or some other miracle. A young farm girl, Ann Burden (Margot Robbie), is grittily surviving on her own in this valley, fearing she may actually be the proverbial last woman on earth. Then, she discovers the most astonishing sight of her life: another human being.
John Loomis (Chiwetel Ejiofor) arrives in the valley a cipher; a distraught scientist nearly driven mad by radiation exposure and his desperate search for others. He and Ann share little in common beyond survival. Even so, as Ann nurses Loomis back to health, they build a fragile, imperative strand of trust across the gulf between them - finding solace amidst the eerie reality of their new lives. With all the time in the world, they even dare to imagine forging a future - for themselves, for humanity. But when a stranger (Chris Pine) enters the valley, their precarious bond begins to unravel. Now, all three must grapple with an unstable situation - one of secrets, suspicions and mortal threats.
Director Craig Zobel (Compliance) takes this arresting concept and puts a microscope on the trio at its center - raising provocative questions about human relationships, human aspiration and all the things inside us, both beautiful and terrifying, that endure when everything else ends. With a three-person cast and shot in remote New Zealand, the film re-envisions the bleak, dense, technological end-of-the world epic as a lush, lyrical, emotional portrait of three people stripped down to their most fundamental wonders and darkest flaws.
DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHY
CRAIG ZOBEL was awarded the Breakthrough Director award at the 2008 Gotham Awards for Great World Of Sound - his debut feature as a writer/director, which premiered at Sundance 2007. The film was selected as one of the Top Ten Independent Films of the Year by The National Board of Review, and was nominated for Best First Film, and Best Supporting Actor in the 2008 Independent Spirit Awards. His second film, Compliance, premiered at Sundance 2012 and won a Special Jury Prize at the Locarno International Film Festival. The National Board of Review awarded Ann Dowd Best Supporting Actress for the film, and she also garnered nominations from the Independent Spirit Awards and the Critic's Choice awards.
In addition to directing, Zobel is also a film producer and frequent collaborator with filmmaker David Gordon Green. Zobel was a producer on Green's Texas-based film Prince Avalanche, which premiered at Sundance 2013, was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Direction at the 2013 Berlinale, and is happily screening in it's place of origin as part of this year's SXSW Film Festival.