Masters and horrors hidden in ‘Safe Space’

“I think that’s one of the things that drew me to the script in the first place,” says Renee. “I think this is the first time I’ve read about the experiences I’ve had. And while it was painful and hard to read, it was the first time I felt seen that way. I think diving into those hard-to-reach experiences will be a really exciting process for me and my healing, and for friends and family, and people like me. ”

Unique quality of Master It’s singular if any of the main characters (at least alive) are trying to sabotage or harm Jasmine and Gail. Gail’s nearly all-white colleagues on the Ancastor faculty were thrilled to have a Black master’s on campus — their own Obama, they joked. Meanwhile, Jasmine has friends from apparently rich backgrounds in her dorm who want to be her support system. But as Fisher, who plays freshman Katie, tells us, that only goes so far.

“I think slowly through the support they gave her, or the lack of that support, you see they were part of the problem,” Fisher said. “This unintentional racism would be worse if not worse in those cases, because these are the people who are supposed to comfort Jasmine in this movie. And they also represent an organization that is supposed to be a comfortable, safe place. College education is supposed to teach you that these things are wrong, but it actually adds to the problem, contributes to the problem. ”

Fisher’s director is quick to note that some of her classmates, especially Katie, try to understand things from Jasmine’s point of view. But none of them are really thinking about how Jasmine is experiencing their world.

“And when you’re a black woman and you’re fighting violations that are coming your way a mile a minute,” says Diallo, “a lot of them are so subtle and so tiny that if you’re the outsider there will be someone on the outside of that experience, you may not notice it. ”

The filmmaker sees that oblivion a lot in the way we see ourselves and our history. Throughout Masterstudents and professors all spoke excitedly about Ancastor’s history from the 18th century. Few people, however, stop to think that for those with little or any rights in the 18th century – or who might have been tied up – that’s not necessarily such a romantic notion.