About High, Soft & Open
High, Soft & Open is a hybrid documentary that delves into the often-overlooked mental health side effects of hormonal birth control. Using intimate audio recordings with friends, colleagues, strangers, and people from the local community, the film weaves a tapestry of personal narratives that highlight women’s shared, yet often silent, struggles with hormonal birth control. The anonymous interviews are brought to life with visually rich reconstructions, using actors in the environments where these candid conversations occur.
Rita’s film reflects on the significant role of peer-to-peer knowledge sharing among women, which often eclipses the guidance provided by medical professionals. This point is highlighted by the use of quotes from the seminal feminist health manual, Our Bodies, Ourselves (1970), which was an educational tool which asked important questions about the side effects of the pill. The use of these quotes asks the audience how much have attitudes to women’s health really changed since the pill was first made available.
CREDITS
Producer: Nicola Pardy, @nicolapardy
Cinematographer / Director of Photography: Linda Wu, @lil.wontons
1st AC: Jamie Oliver Lai @jamieoliverlai
2nd AC: Laura Bryony Smith @laura_bryony
Exec Producer: Agnes Arnold-Forster @agnesjulietaf
Colourist: Nathaniel Skeels @nathanielskeels
Original Music: Freddy de Lord @freddielordfreddielord
Sound Design: Nikolas Babić
Stills Photographer: Charlotte Rea @charreel
Production Assistant: Gabriela Velasco @midnightdominatorA big thank you to @onestopfilms for the lovely kit.
About the Filmmaker
Rita is a freelance director, editor & programmer working across documentary, short-form non-fiction & the arts. Rita’s films focus on everyday issues surrounding our understanding of women’s health. From highlighting the lesser-discussed side effects of hormonal birth control and its impact on mental health in High, Soft & Open, to looking at the ways women have been failed by medical professionals when it comes to UTIs in The UTI Documentary.
Rita is also the co-founder of OffBeat, a folk film club celebrating British working and folk culture. OffBeat held it’s first annual film festival in May 2025.
Rita is based in London, UK.
More from the Filmmaker
“The one thing I would like people to take away from watching High, Soft & Open is that it’s OK to push back and question medical professionals if you aren’t getting the answers you feel you need. There are too many issues which face women on a daily basis which we are still learning new information about, e.g. fibromyalgia, UTIs, endometriosis to name a few, so I think it’s really important to stand up for yourself in medical settings. ” — Rita Conry, Director
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