Casey Affleck's new film explores fatherhood in a world without women

BERLIN — A new film about a father-daughter relationship in a world without women was shaped by Casey Affleck's own struggles with becoming a single parent, the Oscar-winning actor said at the Berlin Film Festival where "Light Of My Life" is premiering.

In the movie, which Affleck directs, he plays a father who isolates his daughter from society in a desperate attempt to protect her from a pandemic that has wiped out most women.

In this dystopia, the father and daughter — dressed as a boy — fear discovery and plan escape routes wherever they stop. They trek through rain and snow, camping in woodland and seeking shelter in an abandoned house, a church and a home with three religious men.

Affleck, who won the best actor Oscar in 2017 for his performance in the family drama "Manchester by the Sea", said some ideas in the new film could be considered feminist but his goal had not been to make a film with a political message.

Anna Pniowsky, who played the daughter — he only female in the movie other than her mother, who features solely in flashbacks — said: "I think it is partially about showing that women are critical in this world." — Reuters