Students debut first feature film at deadCENTER

From OU students to bona fide filmmakers, Lagueria Davis and Cassie Ketrick are having their first big film premier this weekend.

Their film, “1 in 3,” debuts Saturday at Oklahoma City’s deadCENTER Film Festival. According to the film’s synopsis, “1 in 3” pulls its title from the statistic that one-in-three women will be a victim of domestic violence in their lifetimes. The story follows two women, Ophelia Metz, a woman with two children leaving an abusive relationship, and Sydell Thomas, Metz’s advocate at a women’s shelter.

“1 in 3” is the first feature-length project for Davis, director, and Ketrick, producer. Davis, who has worked for the OU Women’s Resource Center for the past seven years, had been prepared to shoot a documentary on the subject.

Ultimately, this would not be possible, Davis said. Instead, she was told that she should write something.

“At that time, just writing something felt false,” Davis said. “I thought there’s no way I can make something that felt real to describe what women leaving their situations go through.”

”It wasn’t until the job started to impact my life for the worst, and for the better, that I came up with the idea to tell the story from the advocate’s point-of-view. It just made sense, that is what I do and I had a wealth of experience to draw material from.”

Davis said her education at OU had prepared her for taking on this project by giving her the technical experience to feel confident as a director. She also said it was the passion for “1 in 3” that brought it to completion.

“It was beautiful to see things come together, everyone working for free, long hours and hard work,” Ketrick said. “deadCENTER is exciting because we are finally seeing it come to fruition. This is it. This is why we did what we did, for people to see it.”

Now in its 10th year, the five-day deadCENTER festival is held annually in downtown Oklahoma City. Its lineup includes romantic comedies, documentaries and animated shorts from independent filmmakers.

“1 in 3” is an excellent first effort, said Melissa Scaramucci, deadCENTER film programming director. Scaramucci said “1 in 3” will be a free screening open to the public because the festival organizers felt it covers a compelling topic.

Helen Grant

Helen is a former staff member of The Oklahoma Daily who worked as Photographer and Staff Writer.