Fair Field Productions gets two films into film festival

FAIRFIELD – Fair Field Productions continues to receive accolades for its documentaries about Jefferson County and Southeast Iowa.

The production company announced that two of its documentaries were selected for the Oneota Film Festival, which will be held March 3-7 in Decorah. One of the films is “A Place to Grow,” a film about the history of agriculture in Jefferson County and the third film in the eight-part Fairfield History Series. In 2020, the film received eight awards from the Iowa Motion Picture Association including best documentary of the year.

The other film selected for the Oneota Film Festival is “Cedar Creek,” a film about a creek that runs through Jefferson County. The documentary is seven minutes long and is about how the creek changed after it was straightened in the early 20th century. Though “Cedar Creek” is not part of the Fairfield History Series, it does employ most of the same contributors such as producer/director Dick DeAngelis; Jason Strong as photography director and editor; Rene Holmberg in charge of drone photography; Werner Elmker and Leland Searles on photography; Tim Britton on sound editing; Geoff Boothby on animation; fine editing by Ed Murphy; and music from all local performers such as Michael Dugan, Mirabai Britton, Tim Britton and Sharon Bousquet.

The idea for it came from a person who watched films in the Fairfield History Series, and asked DeAngelis to do a film on “rewilding” Iowa, which refers to returning a piece of land to how it was before human development. DeAngelis said he’s directing and producing a second film on this “rewilding” theme, with help from editor Nina Ziv, who is living in Israel.

DeAngelis said that, though “A Place to Grow” was released in 2019, it’s just now making its way to film festivals across the state and nation because so many of them were canceled during the pandemic. Fair Field Productions’ fourth film in the Fairfield History Series, “Ahead of Their Time” is planned for a Spring release. DeAngelis said the project has been delayed because key players fell ill, but he’s now working with the musical editor on the finishing touches. He said working on his documentary projects has been good therapy in helping him deal with personal tragedies, such as the death of his daughter Laura in 2021.

Those who want a sneak peek at one of the “Ahead of Their Time” snippets can stop at ICON Gallery on the west side of the Fairfield square. The building once housed the J.A. Spielman tinsmith shop. A sign that once crowned the building reads “1887 – J.A. Spielman.” This sign was removed and rediscovered years later by Rory and Rena Goff at the original home of Dillon and Bella (Spielman) Turney on East Broadway Avenue, then donated to DeAngelis. Craftsman and “Iowa history buff” Miike Burggraaf restored the sign so it could be displayed at the ICON Gallery before being donated to the Carnegie Historical Museum.

The Fair Field Productions team has already conducted several interviews for the fifth film in the Fairfield History Series, which will be about Parsons College, which graced the north side of Fairfield from 1875-1973. DeAngelis said that he was able to secure a number of grants to cover the cost of “Ahead of Their Time,” he will need to rely more on donations to fund the Parsons College film due to the extra expense of poring over hours and hours of footage of Parsons and digitizing it. In fact, he hopes someone can donate a working 16-milimeter projector to help with the project.

“To all those who want the story of Parsons to be told, we are asking for your help,” DeAngelis said. “Send a check, show us pictures or movies of ‘the Parsons days,’ and do whatever you can so we can get the whole story out on film."

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