Pink or Blue? Jake Dypka and Hollie McNish's Gender Equality Collaboration Released

Following last night’s UK premiere, Indy8 today launches Jake Dypka’s ground-breaking three-minute film ‘Open Your Eyes’, which featured as a powerful opener to the legendary Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors’ Showcase in partnership with MPC at Cannes this year.

Dypka was invited back with his film kicking off this year’s show after having previously been selected for the 2016 New Directors’ Showcase. Last year his NDS featured film ‘Embarrassed’, written by and starring Hollie McNish - the celebrated British poet and spoken word artist - vocalised the daily battle mothers face when nursing in public.

This year Dypka brings magic to a new experiential style of film-making, examining gender and demonstrates the disparity between the female and male perception of the world.

Titled, ‘Open your Eyes’, 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 innovative use of technology presents the audience with two different stories simultaneously: one depicting the ‘male’ experience of gender stereotyping and the other the ‘female’ experience – whilst Hollie performs the powerful spoken word narration.

The film’s core message of seeing things differently is elevated by handing editorial power to the audience. This is achieved by projecting the two 2D films onto a 3D screen, whilst a bespoke set of glasses which have either two ‘left’ lenses (blue) or two ‘right’ lenses (pink), mean the viewer can comfortably swap between the two films.

The clear gender divide within the film suggests the restriction boys and girls feel when growing up affects what they feel they should become later in life. Another central theme explored is how as a society we imprint our own ideals of gender onto the young, raising the question of whether gender is inherent or influenced by society.

Jake Dypka, director at Indy8 said, “I would like people to take away 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.”