LisaRaye Debuts ‘Skinned’, See the Official Trailer [VIDEO]

Actress LisaRaye McCoy is dabbling behind the camera, debuting her first feature film. Titled ‘Skinned‘, LisaRaye co-directed the film with the Atlanta-based production company Studio 11 Films. As the film’s title suggest the storyline revolves around a dark complexioned girl who is teased and shamed because of her skin color.

See the official synopsis:

Jolie is a very complex character. Though she’s dark, beautiful, and appears confident at times, her self-esteem is extremely low. This stems from the fact that she’s the object of childhood and adulthood cruelty concerning the darkness of her skin. Throughout her life, she has had nothing but put downs in this regard. Worse of all, her other 2 sisters are lighter in complexion and always considered the prettier ones. They are all socialites and have lots of guys beating down their door. Jolie on the other hand has never been on a single date. However, when she gets to college and falls head over heels in love with a light skinned college swim star, things take an unforeseen turn.

Jolie responds to an on campus ad to tutor a couple of jocks. She meets Bobby who captures her heart. However, Bobby is the most popular guy on campus and has friends that are not too fond of dark skinned girls. One such friend, is Isabelle, a beautiful French Creole cheerleader, who would do anything to seduce Bobby. She uses her family’s friendship with Bobby’s family to convince Jolie that Bobby is only fond of light skinned girls and that his family has already claimed her as his wife. Things get worse when she is refused entrance into a party where she was invited by Bobby.  Out of frustration, she is encouraged by a friend to begin bleaching her skin. After a little research, Jolie embarks on this a mission to beautify herself and earn the attention of Bobby and the lighter girls on campus.

Fast forward 10 years later, Jolie is now married to Michael, an African business tycoon with a flair for light skinned women. So in love with his wife, Michael never bothers to ask why she doesn’t have any pictures of herself when she was a child. When he questions her about the appearance of her skin at times, she lies and says that she has vitiligo. After 4 years of marriage, Jolie has not gotten pregnant. In an attempt to find out why, disturbing news turns their marriage in an uproar that ultimately could lead to death. Devastated about the news, Michael’s world is turned upside down and he begins spending lots of time outside of the home. Thinking that he’s having an affair, Jolie enters into a deep depression.

Things begin to unravel when Jolie’s depression gets worse and Michael suggests that she sees a psychiatrist. Dr. Smith, a renowned psychiatrist in the Atlanta area. A beautiful, confident, dark skinned sister whose number 1 ambition is to make partner at the practice where she works. Dr. Smith’s only solace is the awesome husband that she has at home. His encouragement and love for Dr. Smith is impeccable and very special.

Through counseling, a wonderful friendship develops between Jolie and Dr. Smith as Dr. Smith assists Jolie in realizing her issues and insecurities with skin color. Dr. Smith takes her to a dark place in her life where she discovers how and why she has ended up in a place of darkness and sadness.

The film stars Jasmine Burke, Brad James, Van Vicker, Cycerli Ash and Lisaraye McCoy.

See the trailer on the next page.