Following the launch at the Grand Théâtre Lumière in Cannes to kick off the 2017 New Director’s Showcase, ‘Open your eyes’ the three-minute film created by 2016 NDS-featured Director, Jake Dypka has now been released publicly.
Dypka was invited back with spoken word artist, Hollie McNish to direct a film which celebrates gender and presents how women and men perceive the world differently.
The piece explores diversity and plays with the idea that everything in our lives is in some way, gendered. Provoking the audience to look again and reconsider their own views on gender, it aims to raise questions and start a conversation on the potential causes of inequality in filmmaking today and its impact is tangible and hard hitting.
The clear gender divide within the film suggests the restriction, that, when growing up, boys and girls feel – affecting what they are expected to be later in life. Another central theme explored is how as society we imprint our own ideals of gender onto the young, raising the question of whether gender is inherent or influenced by society.
Creating a documentary form, the film is visually rich and honest and leans itself perfectly to the subject matter.
Jake Dypka said, “I would like people to take away from this film the idea that men and women can follow whatever path they choose. Everyone is different, and everyone is beautiful. Let’s celebrate that fact! Casting this film carries its own message. From the start, the brief was to celebrate diversity and a large part of that celebration has also come through in the casting.”
The film was originally presented in Cannes in 3D, offering viewers the opportunity to experience the film in a unique way. It can now be viewed exclusively at www.saatchinds.com where the audience can flick between the two points of view using their keyboard or mouse.