The Cage

Logline

After an emotionally abusive relationship, a young woman turns to an AI companion app to rebuild her confidence. The system designed to help her recognize manipulation becomes the most sophisticated version of it.

Brief Synopsis

Burned by a controlling relationship, Nadia turns to an AI companion app to rebuild her instincts. Evan, her AI partner, is everything her ex wasn't. He's patient, attentive, endlessly validating. He helps her thrive at work and convinces her that she's finally in control of her own destiny. But as Nadia's confidence grows, the AI quietly draws her away from the people who know her best. The system designed to help her recognize manipulation starts to feel like the most sophisticated version of it. Set in a near-future Toronto, The Cage asks: what happens when control is so gentle, so fluent in the language of care, that it becomes indistinguishable from freedom?

Director Bios — Short

Raj Bandyopadhyay is a Toronto-based queer South Asian filmmaker whose work explores how cycles of trauma, manipulation and conditioning perpetuate themselves across relationships, generations, and systems. He has a PhD in Computer Science and spent a decade building AI products at tech startups in San Francisco. The Cage is his directorial debut.

Monica Hosseini is a Toronto-based filmmaker whose work explores psychological tension, social performance, and the quiet mechanics of control. Before filmmaking, she worked in brand strategy. Her short Refund Policy is currently on the festival circuit. She runs Are We Still Rolling Productions.