‘Ahead of Their Time’ documentary to premiere May 20 in Fairfield

FAIRFIELD — The fourth film in the Fairfield History Series will premiere in late May at the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center.

The film, “Ahead of Their Time” will be shown May 20-22 at the Stephen Sondheim Center for the Performing Arts. The first two showings, on Friday and Saturday, will be at 7:30 p.m., while the final showing on that Sunday will be at 2 p.m. Admission is a free. The public is invited to attend.

At the conclusion of the 1 hour 21 minute documentary, producer/director Dick DeAngelis of Fair Field Productions will take the stage to answer questions from the audience.

“The fourth chapter in the award-winning Fairfield History Series, ‘Ahead of Their Time’ presents unforgettable local history stories … from the Hopewell Native American culture who lived here over 2,000 years ago to the unstoppable spirit of Fairfield’s earliest entrepreneurs, like John Huff, Joel Turney, William Louden, Dr. Mrs. Rebecca Keck and others, who helped our town of Fairfield both survive and thrive through its earliest days,” stated a news release from Fair Field Productions. “Using rarely seen pictures and clips, expert interviews and the narrations of filmmaker Dick DeAngelis, stories include Fairfield’s groundbreaking inventors and entrepreneurs, as well as people who crossed the cultural stereotypes of the time.”

Fair Field Productions had been releasing its films in the Fairfield History Series about once per year, but this fourth film took two years to finish. DeAngelis said COVID-19 played a major role in that.

“With the pandemic, only one person in the group needs to be affected for it to force us to cancel an interview,” DeAngelis said. He also remarked about the difficulty of having to stretch the budget to cover two years instead of one, which required sacrifices from all involved.

DeAngelis said he and his production team conducted 37 interviews for the film.

“People who are interested in Fairfield history will be amazed at the research we’ve done,” he said. “You can feel the contributions of the entire community.”

DeAngelis said he only included information in the film that he was able to verify with multiple sources.

“I had to leave stuff out of the film because I only had one source for it,” he said.

For those who miss the premiere at the Sondheim, the documentary will be available to purchase online through Vimeo right after the premiere. It also will be available to purchase on DVD.

DeAngelis’s supporting cast includes the same people who have helped him with the first three films. Jason Strong returned as director of photography, though for this film he was also the editor, with DeAngelis assisting him. Tim Britton was once again in charge of sound editing and recording.

Strong and Werner Elmker operated cameras, and Ed Murphy provided editing consultations. Philip Rabalais was the animator, while Lawrence Eyre was historical director. Ariel Sewall and Niki Gilchrist were DeAngelis’s assistants.

Just as in prior films, DeAngelis prioritized the use of local musicians and artists. Artists who contributed to the film include Chad Starling (opening sequence), Lance Foster (Ioway village), Barry Ross (drawings of James Yancey) and Mark Shafer, who contributed paintings of Joel Turney, William Louden and the Fairfield Light Tower that is being used as a poster to advertise the film. Bonita Versh was director of art animation.

Musicians whose work can be heard in the film include Werner Elmker, Tim Britton, Tom Morgan, Tom Morain, Lauryn Shapter, Daniel Sperry and Kevin Riley.

Though not a local person, DeAngelis uses music from an artist he discovered on YouTube who goes by the name “Lonesome Flatpicker.” The man is from Belgium, and contributed a number of Civil War-era songs on the guitar. He wrote to DeAngelis to thank him for including his music in the film, and that the experience rekindled his love of the guitar and helped him through his depression.

The film includes actors who perform six re-enactments, which is more re-enactments than DeAngelis had in his previous films.

“In terms of art and music, there is more unique content in this film than in any other,” DeAngelis said.

DeAngelis said he hopes the public will enjoy the film, and learn something about the history of Jefferson County, just as they have from his three previous films.

“Place-based education is a passion of mine,” DeAngelis said, “whether it was how the land was formed, some of the brave heroes who lived here, to our farmers being such a large part of our economy.”

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