A student film celebrating black women titled “SABLE,” which stands for Stories About Blacks Leading Equality, will be screened for Kennesaw State students on Friday, Feb. 15, at 6 p.m. in the leadership room of the James V. Carmichael Student Center on the Kennesaw campus.
SABLE is the first film made by KSU student Morgan Harrell and aims to show the injustice faced by African American women in today’s society through dance.
“SABLE is about seven black women that interpret their pain of injustice through the form of dance,” Harrell said. “Basically, the film reflects victims like Sandra Bland, Korryn Gaines and [addresses] other issues such as colorism. The film itself is very short, but it’s sweet and to the point. It might make audience members shed a tear or two.”
Sandra Bland died in police custody of a highly-contested apparent suicide after being arrested and threatened at a routine traffic stop, according to the Guardian. Korryn Gaines, wanted for not showing up in traffic court, was fatally shot by police after a six-hour standoff, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Colorism is the discrimination against or shaming of people with darker skin colors. This is different from racism because it can occur within the same racial group.
The screening will be divided up into several segments and will involve raffle prizes aimed toward African American women. To start off, there will be an opening inspired by “Black Mirror,” a dystopian Netflix series, followed by a speech by Lucas Frink, a motivational speaker and student at KSU.
The movie will be screened in its entirety and will be followed by a panel discussion on racial issues that will include faculty members and Harrell herself.
Harrell said she hopes that the screening of “SABLE” has a profound impact on audience members both during and after the film.
“I want the audience to be able to think for themselves and develop their own opinion,” Harrell said. “I want it to inspire people to be the person who they needed when they were young.”
Production for “SABLE” began towards the end of January 2018 and took around a month to cast, choreograph and produce.
The idea for the film came from the injustices Harrell saw displayed in the news and other media outlets. It was the empathy she felt from these scenes that inspired Harrell to make “SABLE.”
“It’s something that always kept to me when I made this film,” Harrell said. “I knew the pain that I felt, and the empathy with the women, and knew these were the types of victims I wanted to depict.”
“SABLE” gave Harrell a chance to put her love of dance into a project that she said she feels is important and that will have an impact in the world of film.
“I learned that part of my purpose on this Earth was to make films that can help people understand problems in our country,” Harrell said. “I got to use my gift of dance to do this and that’s something you’ve never really seen done before in public.”
For Harrell, the message of “SABLE” is important because what is shown in the film are experiences that anyone could have.
“This could happen to anybody, anybody’s child or loved one,” Harrell said. “We can not let history repeat itself.”
To find more information about “SABLE” and the screening event, visit its OwlLife page at owllife.kennesaw.edu/event/3079329.
