To a Safer Place

To a Safer Place is the story of a 35-year old woman who has learned to live with her past, in which she was sexually abused by her father for many years. Therapy, a happy marriage, a good job and the help of other incest-victims helped her to build up a completely new and full-fledged life. To a Safer Place follows Shirley Turcotte as she returns to her former residence and talks about the causes and effects of her sad history with her family and her former neighbours. In her documentary, Shaffer consciously left out the use of statistics and expert commentary. By filming from the personal perspective of one woman, the issue of incest becomes more concrete and is, in her opinion, more carefully uncovered. The film shows how incest victims can be helped and it is a plea for more attention and openness concerning the incest phenomenon. In 1985, Shirley Turcotte founded, along with two others, the organization Support, Education, and Prevention of Sexual Abuse of Children, and since then, she has supervised self-help groups. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)