The Hustler's Digest StaffLike most developed countries, America is also a multicultural society. Be Careful What You Ask For indulges viewers to see where there is a lack of multicultural realities. The filmmaker, Lisa Collins, touches upon the crucial topics that society often swept under the rug.
The short film is about a middle-class white couple who engage in a progressive dialogue about the state of the nation over a morning cup of coffee. The film pays tribute to Jason Erik Washington, who lost his life at the hands of college police in 2018. The couple’s conversation ends in an emotional expression of the white male protagonist calling out names of black people murdered by the hands of police officers.
Lisa’s idea of producing this film is to spread racial awareness among Americans and highlight the urgency to deal with the deteriorating situation. She is an Ed.d scholar and educator specializing in racial trauma.
As a military kid, Lisa never realized the racial differences in society until she moved her bi-racial family to Oregon, the only state to enter the union as a white-only state. She faced racism in ways that opened her eyes to a subtle reality for American society.
When Lisa pointed out the racist practices in public education, she experienced negative consequences physically and financially. She realized that this culture was being normalized more and more with time; this motivated her to raise racial awareness and study her racial experiences. Dr. Lisa began by focusing on Racial Healing through her doctorate research on Educational Leadership. She developed a coaching model through the autoethnographic research of her life experiences, which led to her becoming a Life Coach.
Healing From Racial Trauma: A Consciousness Journey Through Autoethnography by Lisa touched upon racial consciousness and racial regulation. This research was the beginning point of creating Be Careful What You Ask For.
Lisa not only went on the field to prove the racial problem but also went through a self-discovery journey about racial trauma. All the hardships and discrimination she faced came tumbling down like rocks, and she destroyed them all by adopting meditation and spirituality.
Be Careful What You Ask For was released to the world in 2020. It is a well-recognized short film that debuted on 1 February 2021 through Fertile Ground. When asked the inspiration behind writing this play, Lisa said, “I’ve heard every bit of this conversation many times with many people.” She incorporated her personal experiences and distant conversations into a dialectical performance piece.
With the success of this short film, Lisa saw a light of hope through expressing challenges and healing through the arts. She recently launched a short play, Debut Readers Series: Hwy 8, which debuted on Pacific Northwest Multi-Cultural Readers Series & Film Festival. It was widely watched and shared; it focused on sexual abuse in the black community.
Through storytelling, Dr. Lisa observes that the audience or general public are more drawn to openly discuss the issues; instead of putting out research findings. Now, Lisa is motivated to produce more films that elicit thoughts, emotions, and calls to action against oppressive practices.
