Experiencing Interruptions?

.E.S

  • ZHANG Xinyi
    Director
    Director
  • Iñigo Montoya
    Writer
  • ZHANG Xinyi
    Producer
  • TIFFANI DE PATRIQUE
    Producer
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Music Video, Short, Student
  • Runtime:
    5 minutes 10 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 24, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    400 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Canada
  • Country of Filming:
    Canada
  • Language:
    Spanish
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - FANSHAWE COLLEGE
Director Biography - ZHANG Xinyi

ZHANG XINYI (born in Shanghai) is a director, cinematographer, and editor known for her vivid cinematography and atmospheric use of music. She is currently working as a filmmaker in Canada while furthering her expertise in Visual Effects (VFX) to expand the possibilities of visual storytelling.

Beyond her independent filmmaking, she has collaborated with filmmakers and artists across performances, installations, and productions, taking on roles as an editor and cinematographer.

Deeply influenced by European art cinema and Soviet filmmaking, she found a profound artistic awakening in the works of Andrei Tarkovsky, which reshaped her perception of cinema. This led her to Paris, where she spent three years mastering fashion design. After returning to Shanghai, she transitioned into the advertising industry, accumulating four years of experience in TV commercials as an art director, specializing in set design and editing. Her works were exhibited at the Shanghai Auto Shows in 2021 and 2022.

Later, she moved to Canada to fully immerse herself in filmmaking, completing several projects, with her films selected for multiple international film festivals, including the Toronto Independent Film Festival and FCFF. She continues to explore the boundaries of visual storytelling, striving to push cinema forward as an artistic medium.

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Director Statement

E.S. is not just a film—it is an act of resistance. A futuristic visual poem that transforms a radical feminist manifesto into cinematic language.
Inspired by the Chilean collective LasTesis and their 2019 performance Un violador en tu camino, this film deconstructs the patriarchal gaze and raises a fundamental question: when the language and body of resistance are absorbed by the system, how can we reclaim autonomous expression?

Structured as a triptych—Gaze - Awakening - Reconstruction—the film unfolds in three movements:

Gaze: The first part depicts individuals trapped within the patriarchal gaze. Women's bodies are shaped and disciplined, functioning like cogs in a system that strips them of agency. Set against cold, hyperreal CG backgrounds and symbolic visual compositions, this segment evokes a world where bodies are not only observed but engineered. Referencing Metropolis (1927), it visualizes a dystopia where authoritarian systems govern identity, movement, and thought, critiquing how such structures regulate and reproduce thought.

Awakening: The second part shifts to the male gaze, which evolves from indifference to desire, control, and ultimately, violence. Through the Kuleshov effect and cross-cutting montage, the act of looking becomes a precursor to violence, exposing the power dynamics embedded in perception itself.

Reconstruction: The third part deconstructs meaning using Simone de Beauvoir’s philosophy as its foundation. Her fragmented interview recordings are transformed into electronic rhythms, with her voice echoing—Eres tú. This is not just a question of individual identity, but a challenge to the very structures that define it. When women are no longer the “Other” and the body is no longer a passive vessel, true awakening can occur.

Visually, E.S. employs the Kuleshov effect and cross-cutting to create a fractured, surreal atmosphere where dehumanized social structures collide with individual bodily experiences. More than an experimental film, E.S. is a critical reflection on power, the body, and the ways resistance is both shaped and reclaimed.