Nearing the end of Across the Line, Jayme Crawley (Sarah Jeffery) sits in the middle of a near-empty classroom following a race-fueled brawl.

The room, cold and bleak, casts an oppressive shadow over her. Her teacher, Lori Downey (Cara Ricketts), says things haven’t changed from her time at Cole Harbour high school twenty years ago when tensions between Eastern Passage and North Preston’s racial communities still ran high.

“I had a sickening reminder that nothing’s changed,” she exclaims. “Poor blacks and poor whites, fighting for scraps from the big table.”

Crawley, caught in the crossfire because of her mixed race heritage, has had enough. Frustrated, she reprimands her peers. “You’re all so caught up with skin colour, and for what? We need to change the rules and start thinking for ourselves, because if we keep down this road, we’re gonna be so fucked.”

Crawley represents one of the many perspectives presented in Director X’s feature debut. In the coming-of-age film, she struggles with her own identity: the black kids don’t accept her, and the white kids view her with suspicion. Crawley’s ambition is to move out of her small town and live in Toronto, in the hope of remedying her feelings of alienation and displacement stemming from her small-town roots.

“I think Jayme is a relatable character in one way or another,” remarks the Vancouver-born Jeffery, calling the Straight from LA. “They [the characters] all have something that they’re coping with in their lives. For her it’s a struggle of identity. She’s such a strong character and very complex; it was very rewarding to bring her to life.”

“For me, I’ve struggled with that when auditioning,” Jeffery continues, referring to her five years of activity in the film industry. “Sometimes I get the feedback that I’m not white enough or I’m not black enough, and that can be really frustrating in that sense.”

The twenty-year-old can be currently seen alongside Jennifer Lopez in the gritty police drama Shades of Blue, and is best known for her roles on FOX’s Wayward Pines and Disney’s Descendants franchise.

Across the Line, also starring Stephan James, was filmed in Cole Harbour, N.S., the location of the film's true-life events. She has much to say about her time on the set with Director X, who’s probably best known for directing Drake’s “Hotline Bling”.

“It was a really incredible and unique experience,” Jeffery says. “X has a very creative way of looking at things, being that he was in the music video business. He has an eye for different angles [and] brought something unique to the table; something I’ve never experienced before.”

But it was a tough shoot, with a punishing 15-day schedule, and subject matter that most Canadians are blissfully oblivious to. “The content was so emotional. We came home tired and drained. But we put our best foot forward and it worked out,” Jeffery says. “I hope people come out of watching it more educated and sensitive of the topic. At the same time, it’s also a very relatable story. Everybody’s got something going on in their life—I think the whole cast and the whole creative team did a good job bringing that to life in a certain way.”

Crawley uses punk-rock as a way to deal with the adversity she faces in her environment. Jeffery, who was a dancer before she took up acting, remarks that having a creative outlet is important for one’s own well-being.

“I definitely think that using that artistic side of your brain, just having an outlet for emotion is very important, whether it be painting, dancing, acting, or singing,” she says. “It’s made me the sort of person I am today.”

Of her character’s identity confusion, she laments: “I have always believed in going after your dreams. If it really is something you want there shouldn’t be something stopping you no matter what someone close to you says. No matter what the general public says. When it’s something you want, you have to block out that noise and negativity and just go for it.”