To a Safer Place

Directed by Beverly Shaffer

Canada, 1987 (documentary, 58 minutes, colour, English)

Also known as "L'enfant dans le mur"

Image: © National Film Board of Canada

Film Description:
"This inspiring film is the story of how one woman has come to terms with her life as a survivor of incest. Sexually abused by her father from infancy to early adolescence, Shirley Turcotte is now in her thirties and has succeeded in building a rich and full life. In To a Safer Place, Shirley takes a further step to reconcile her past and present. The film accompanies her as she returns to the people and places of her childhood. Her mother, brothers and sister, all of whom were also caught up in the cycle of family violence, openly share their thoughts. Their frank disclosures will encourage survivors of incest to break through the silence and betrayal to recover and develop a sense of self-worth and dignity."
-- National Film Board of Canada (source)

Film Credits (partial):
Produced by:	Gerry Rogers, Beverly Shaffer, Kathleen Shannon, Barbara Janes, Ginny Stikeman, Rina Fraticelli
Narrator:	Shirley Turcotte, Gloria Demers
Cinematography:	Joan Hutton
Film Editing:	Sidonie Kerr
Music:	Loreena McKennitt
Production Company:	National Film Board of Canada / Office national du film du Canada
Additional Credits:	Collaborating Director [Collaboration à la réalisation]: Shirley Turcotte

(sources)

Quote by the Director

"Another filmmaker, Anne Henderson, had been researching women with non-traditional jobs. She was out in Vancouver and she met Shirley Turcotte who had a technical job working with BC Tel and she recognized that this was a remarkable woman, and in an interview, I guess, they got to talking and their talk went beyond Shirley's work situation to her personal situation. Anne brought the story back to, I guess, Kathleen [Shannon] and, at that time, Gerry Rogers was a producer at [Studio D] and Kathleen mentioned that to Gerry that Anne had met this women who impressed her very much. So Gerry went to meet Shirley and came back and decided, yes, we should make a film on incest survivors."
-- Beverly Shaffer (source)

Quote about To a Safer Place

"For all its accomplishment, Studio D has not found its path entirely free of obstacles. [Rina] Fraticelli acknowledges that one of the unit's biggest problems lies in distribution—limited, without televised screenings, to community showings and NFB video rentals. But the CBC is reluctant to air Studio D productions, she said. Even To A Safer Place had to wait 1 1/2 years after release to get on CBC air—after appearing twice on U.S. public television."
-- Janice Kennedy (source)

Bibliography for To a Safer Place

Brief Sections of Books

Vanstone, Gail. D Is for Daring: The Women behind the Films of Studio D. Toronto: Sumach Press, 2007. (pp. 131-134)

Brief Sections of Dissertations

Vanstone, Gail E. "Documenting D: Studio D of the NFB and Its Representation of Women's Lives in Canada, 1974-1996." PhD diss., York University, 2003. (pp. 178-180)

Web Sites about To a Safer Place

National Film Board of Canada. "NFB -- To a Safer Place." National Film Board of Canada. http://onf-nfb.gc.ca/en/our-collection/?idfilm=16922.
Office national du film du Canada. "ONF -- L'enfant dans le mur." Office national du film du Canada. http://onf-nfb.gc.ca/fr/notre-collection/?idfilm=4159. [in French]