The EYE

THE EYE is both a love letter to the island where my family are from and an exploration of the dark psychological impulses surrounding grief. My mother is from a small village in the North of Corfu. Growing up, I was always struck by how prevalent the evil eye (or ‘mati’) was in day-to-day life there. Parallel to this, my writing partner and close friend Emily Carlton lost her partner in a drowning incident at a very young age, which initially inspired this story. We began to speak about the deterioration, anger and paranoia that one experiences after sudden loss. This rare storm of emotion was something that I had rarely seen addressed in a film. To make sense of the senseless, Emily found herself actually desiring someone to blame, while holding an illogical lingering hope that it could be reversible. Now in the wake of the pandemic, people around the world are experiencing such loss at an unparalleled level. We decided to use the supernatural concept of ‘the eye’ to explore this very real human experience of grief.

It was important from the beginning that we create our own version of ‘the eye’ so that audiences could suspend their pre-conceived notions. We present a darker black icon, with lines around the bottom edge, rather than the traditional blue circle. Crucially, our protagonist Diana is never given definitive clarity that ‘the eye’ is real. We never see any supernatural events occur. Ultimately the curse may be a fabrication of Diana's mind, symbolic of the dark deterioration and desire to blame that one experiences in the wake of grief. What matters is Diana's ultimate discovery that true peace comes from acceptance – looking inward and not outward.

As lifelong friends and creative partners, we had no idea just how profoundly this project would change our lives. In January of 2018, as we were in late-stage development on THE EYE’s script, Emily lost her father. Surreally, she found herself taking her father’s ashes to the island of Corfu – his favorite place in the world. There she was, walking in the footsteps of our own protagonist, and with it all the pain, confusion, and intense numbness. In many ways, Koraki's character became a manifestation of these dark layers of denial.

Often the voice of people we love continues in our heart and mind long after they are gone, giving us strength in the toughest of moments. That is what we hope to convey with our ending: the voice of Felix within Diana giving her the willpower to keep on living. Though she has a scar – an eternal "hole in her heart" – she is finally able to spread his ashes and find peace within. Emily's dad was a writer and we make this film in his memory.