DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
Based on true events, Stand Clear ’ the Closing Doors explores the subtle, often unspoken tensions that Black women encounter in everyday public spaces. Set on the New York City subway, the film centers on a brief moment of forced proximity, where assumptions, entitlement, and connection quietly surface, often in ways that are easy to overlook but hard to forget.

 

I wrote the script and brought it to the screen in just two months, calling on my community to help shoot the film guerrilla-style on the subway in a single six-hour window. That urgency shaped the film’s tone, mirroring how these moments unfold in real life: quickly, unexpectedly, and without the chance to pause or prepare.

 

At its core, this film is about reclamation. Black women are so often expected to accommodate and care for others, to our own detriment. Historically cast as caretakers, we are rarely afforded the space to center ourselves without question or consequence. At the time of the incident that inspired this film, I was learning to break this pattern. My response was a real-time practice of choosing my own self-care.

 

With Stand Clear ’ the Closing Doors, I aim to give space to… make room for… and shine a light on Black women, letting them know it is our right to exist freely in the world. That we can stand (or sit), clear in our humanity, audaciously and unapologetically.

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Stacey Sargeant, Writer - Director