Master (2022)

Master

Animal Kingdom/Big Indie Pictures/Amazon Studios

Release date

March 18, 2022 (Prime Video)

Social Media

#Master #PrimeVideo

Directed by

Mariama Diallo

Written by

Mariama Diallo

Produced by

Joshua Astrachan, Brad Becker-Parton, Andrea Roa

Starring

Regina Hall as Gail Bishop

Zoe Renee as Jasmine Moore

Amber Gray as Liv Beckman

Ella Hunt as Cressida

Talia Ryder as Amelia

Talia Balsam as Diandra

Bruce Altman as Brian

Cinematography

Charlotte Hornsby

Edited by

Jennifer Lee and Maya Maffioli

Music by

Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe

Executive Producer

Regina Hall 

Production Designers

Meredith Lippincott and Tommy Love

Costume Designer

Mirren Gordon-Crozier

Producer Brad Becker-Parton discusses Master 

“The central theme is who is and isn’t allowed in a place of cultural privilege like elite colleges and universities. And the way in which those places can be hostile to people of color, to women, to all sorts of minority groups for whom they were not built. And the ways in which the people for whom they were not built can just feel that in the air of the place — and the people who are not those people just can’t relate and can’t see it.”

Actress Amber Gray discusses Master

“How we see ourselves versus how other people see us is something I think everyone goes through at some point. Obviously it’s different extremes for different people depending on their circumstances. I think it’s pretty masterfully explored in this movie.”

Zoe Renee discusses the characters in Master

“Jasmine is coming into this new situation that’s completely overwhelming, but also has been a dream for so long. And then you think about Gail, who has worked her entire life trying to figure out how to get to the place she wants to be. Now she’s here, but what does she do with it? Liv is a little bit trickier, but I also think it’s an idea of trying to fit in and trying to figure out what your identity is.”

Regina Hall discusses Master 

“I hope people enjoy it. It’s not a comedy, but there are moments of ironic humor that Mariama handled so beautifully. And I think Mariama is an artist in the way she has chosen to shoot the film.”

Writer-director Mariama Diallo discusses Master

“At its most fundamental level, Master isn’t allegorical. I want viewers to engage with Gail, Jasmine, and Liv as real people and to try to empathize with their decisions and imagine the worlds that shaped them. One of the things that’s interesting about the film to me is the way in which differences such as generation or complexion inform the way the women react to their environment and forge their personalities.

As a school that prides itself on its long history while also burying the unsavory parts of its past, Ancaster is replete with ghosts and it is never able to truly move forward.  The burden of this unacknowledged history gets passed on to the school’s living residents, who in turn also live a lie. They perform the idea of themselves, rather than simply existing. Is it possible to live honestly in a fundamentally dishonest place?"