PET

Synopsis

A young woman wakes in a sterile, confined space — watched, controlled, and stripped of autonomy. As she navigates an existence defined by routine and restriction, the boundaries between care and captivity dissolve. PET is a visceral allegory about societal control, gender-based oppression, and the quiet violence of being kept in your place.

Director's Statement

"We're all just animals in a cage, breast fed on materialism and outdated common standards. No one's free. We live in a socially repressed society where old fashioned values will always linger and be pushed upon us no matter how much we try and escape it.

I grew up in a fairly conservative household. I went to an all girls school where we learned about textiles, home economics and how our skirts should be worn below the knee so as not to draw any unwanted male attention. We were deprived of things like drama, sports and technological education. As I got older and became more independent I came to realise how little I valued that type of lifestyle.

I was scolded and shamed by certain family members for not having the same conservative mindset as them. When I first started working professionally I felt small and inadequate, an inferior being in a male dominated society. I've experienced my fair share of discrimination throughout the years, and I'm shamed to say that I still experience it to this day. I've been ridiculed and made to feel insignificant, all because of my assigned birth gender.

PET is a visual depiction of these past experiences. I'm hoping it will speak to those who have experienced similar things, and raise awareness of this generalist bigotry."

— Kitty Harper, Writer & Director