Filmmaker Statement

The motivation behind this project was to make a short film centered on the themes of youth and masculinity; to explore the question of what it means to be a man in today’s society and the social conditioning behind toxic masculinity. Drawing inspiration from childhood games, this film is a nostalgic look at the factors that influence young boys' emotional development. The goal of this film was to highlight the way in which boys grow up to embrace harmful beliefs, with the cage serving as a metaphor for strict masculine ideals. In the film, the cage is a self-contained world with its own set of rules and functions as a metaphor for boys being trapped within the harmful expectations of their gender. Street casting became a key component of the film since it was important that the boys had a good understanding of the material in order to portray this issue in the most authentic way. As such, the boys gave performances that felt honest and realistic and even contributed ideas based on their own experiences. The aim was always to show the colorful yet scary aspects of being a teenager.