‘Ahead of Their Time’ documentary to premiere Friday in Fairfield

FAIRFIELD – Fairfield residents will have three chances this weekend to see the latest installment in the Fairfield History Series.

Fair Field Productions will debut its fourth documentary in the series at the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center Friday and Saturday nights, and Sunday afternoon. The film is called “Ahead of Their Time” and will cover 15 short but “unforgettable local history stories” from award-winning documentarian Dick DeAngelis, producer and director of the series that he has now half finished, since he is planning to do eight films in all.

The Friday and Saturday showings begin at 7:30 p.m. and the Sunday showing is at 2 p.m. A question-and-answer session with DeAngelis will follow the showings.

Viewers will be treated to vignettes featuring Fairfield’s earliest entrepreneurs such as John Huff, Joel Turney, William Louden, and Dr. Mrs. Rebecca Keck, who helped Fairfield survive the wild 1800s.

“Using rarely seen pictures and clips, expert interviews, and even a hand-drawn animation short, this film reveals Fairfield’s groundbreaking inventors and entrepreneurs, as well as people who crossed the cultural stereotypes of the time,” DeAngelis said.

The film will be shown using the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center’s new cinema-grade projection system. There is no charge to attend, though donations will be accepted and all will go toward supporting Fair Field Productions.

For those who would like an early taste of the film, they can view the trailer at https://vimeo.com/ondemand/aheadoftheirtime.

This fourth film in the series was a labor of love whose release date was pushed back because the pandemic interrupted filming. Fair Field Productions released its first three films in the series in three consecutive years from 2017-2019, beginning with “Life Before Fairfield” about the area’s prehistoric and Native American history, then “Heroes of Fairfield” featuring abolitionists, war veterans and other local residents who’ve done great things, and most recently “A Place to Grow” about the history of agriculture in Jefferson County.

The next film in the series will be about Parsons College, which called Fairfield home from 1875-1973, and the film after that will be about Maharishi International University, which moved to Fairfield a year after Parsons closed and has been here ever since.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com