"Paranoia is a simple human truth."
Whether it's an impending plague, H1N1 virus, or worrying about finances, people can't help but be fearful of the unknown, says director Timothy Cawley of Well-Founded Concerns currently playing at the Vancouver Film Festival.
"Fear is a great motivator," said Cawley. "People get bored and they look to something to be scared off - the next big thing that will kill us all."
That inexplicable human attachment to fear lies at the centre of Well-Founded Concerns, a contemporary sci-fi short about a germophobe who lives in his sterilized, hermetically sealed apartment, dreading the day a killer plague wipes out humanity.
When that day comes, only the germophobe and a woman who knows about the apartment are prepared. But even the confines of his safe haven aren't safe.
While Cawley made the film before the H1N1 swine flu outbreak, audiences have come to see the virus as a "deep-seated inspiration" for the film.
"Human minds like to race," laughed Cawley.
Well-Founded Concerns Oct. 6 (9 p.m.) and Oct. 7 (2:50 p.m.) at Empire Granville 7 Cinemas, 855 Granville St.
