“Impression,” written by Cleveland students Adam Nayak and Hannah Madans, comments on the social norms surrounding beauty and became a finalist in the All American High School Film Festival.

Madans and Nayak, both seniors at Cleveland, created the video during IB Art last winter and decided to enter it into the festival, without the expectation of progressing as far as they did. The video was entered in the experimental category and was chosen among hundreds as one of the top 10 in its category.  “It was a pleasant surprise,” said Madans. Their final placement, possibly first, is to be determined within the next couple of weeks.

The inspiration for the video comes from society’s beauty expectations for “traditional” genders.

This is shown in the video through close up shots of mouths and eyes. The lips are in bright colors of lipstick and the eyes are accentuated with eyeliner and mascara. After two minutes of these images, the camera zooms out and young men slowly wipe off their manicured faces. The young men in the video are Cleveland students Henry Hawking, Elliott Tewfik, Josh Bricker, Elijah Tan, Oscar Dierker, Adam Nayak, Emmett Morris, and Gabe Bendat.

“This video is very important to me because of its message and social commentary on gender roles,” said Nayak.

“Impression” is trying to capture the idea that people should be able to feel beautiful in whatever form and means they want, regardless of their gender.

To Madans, beauty is something that comes down to comfort. “I notice that when a person is comfortable and confident about how they look and feel, they exude positive energy and beauty so much more,” said Madans.

“Impression” by Nayak and Madans can be found on YouTube under “Impression” by Adam Nayak. In addition to this, based on its standing position, the film will be shown Oct. 6-8 in Times Square in New York.