Four brothers who grew up in Pitt Meadows will be bringing their story about the sit-in protests of the American Civil Rights Movement to the screen in Maple Ridge.
Directed by the Affolter brothers – Heath, Jon, Nathan and Thomas – Counter Act tells the story of Alice, a naive, young white woman who, while having lunch at a diner, decides to join Mary and Ray for a sit-in protest. It draws the ire of the racist patrons around them and teaches Alice what it truly takes to stand up for what you believe in.
Thomas admits when they first learned about the sit-in protests of the 1960s, they were ignorant that they even took place.
“We knew about the Civil Rights Movement, of course, you learn about it in school,” said Thomas Affolter.
“Especially up here in Canada, and I’m sure many places in the world, all you really learn about are the broad strokes of the Civil Rights Movement. You know, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and the Freedom Rides, if you’re lucky,” he added.
The brothers felt that if they didn’t know about the lunch counter sit-in protests, then surely there would be other people who didn’t know about them, as well. They also felt that the protests accurately represented what the greater movement was about, which is a small group of dedicated, passionate people standing up against the hatred and prejudice of a segregated nation with respect and love and peaceful protest.
The brothers first started writing the script in the spring of 2015. Even then they thought it would be a powerful story.
Alice is sympathetic to the cause and wants to get involved and ends up learning the hard way what it truly takes to stand up for what you believe in, Affolter continued.
When the brothers started writing it, the big news coming from the United States was about the killing of Trayvon Martin and the issue of police brutality. And since then there has been the Syrian refugee crisis and the presidential election of Donald Trump.
The brothers feel the short film has become more topical as time has gone on.
The Counter Act script was the 2015 winner of the Hot Shot Shorts competition, an annual Vancouver contest that provides sponsorship and monetary support for local short film scripts so they can be made into films.
It was shot over two days in January 2016 at The Ridge Studios in Maple Ridge.
The movie is 15 minutes long.
Their target audience was people who had never heard of the movement before, so they decided to film the movie like a documentary, but with a modern feel to the photography.
“We just felt like if we made it in black and white or something like that it would maybe not connect as well with the modern audience,” said Nathan Affolter.
Usually with a period piece the film is shot using the cameras, lenses and style of that era.
Instead the brothers wanted to use modern technology to transport the audience back in time.
“Kind of like putting the audience in this place as if they are a spectator watching it,” said Affolter.
The brothers, who are all about two and a half years apart, grew up working together. This is the biggest project that they have taken on collectively.
“Our cast and crew ended up being about 70 to 80 people for both the days. So it was a pretty big endeavor,” said Thomas Affolter.
The brothers share the responsibilities of writing, producing and directing and work as a creative collaborative.
It’s all about team work and working together they say.
“Film in its very nature is one of the most collaborative art forms if not the most collaborative art form. And we feel that it just plays in to the way that we like to run our sets,” he added.
“We’re not just a team, we’re not just co-workers, we’re a family out there, to support and respect one another, listen to one another and love the work, put story first and not put ourselves first as individuals,” he continued.
When the brothers are in the development stages of a movie, it is just them in a room, spit-balling ideas and as they move through the process, slowly adding more individuals to the team.
“Ultimately, our end goal, we all want the project to be the best it can be. We find that by talking about that stuff, even if we start off with different opinions, we usually all end up on the same page,” Nathan Affolter said.
What the brothers would like people to take from their film is that even if you are not part of a victimized minority themselves, you still have a responsibility to stand up for what is right.
“We didn’t just want to make a film that basically said racism is bad. Everyone already knows racism is bad and we didn’t feel like we would be lending anything original or unique to that topic of conversation,” said Thomas Affolter.
“We felt like it would be a unique perspective to see it through the lens of someone who is on the outside looking in but still has a role to play,” he added.
“It’s still important for them to be a part of that fight, whether society believes we should be or not. What’s right for one of us is what’s right for all of us.”
What’s on
The Maple Ridge Festival of B.C. Film takes place from March 17-19 at The ACT Arts Centre at 11944 Haney Place in Maple Ridge. There will be a question and answer period following most of the movies with the directors and cast members. Tickets for the inaugural event are available online at theactmapleridge.org, by phone at 604-476-2787 or at the ACT Arts Centre, beside the Leisure Centre downtown Maple Ridge.
Tickets range from $11 for a single ticket, $27 for a three-pack and $50 for a six-pack of tickets. Tickets purchased for the March 17 screening will include the festival’s 6:30 p.m. opening reception.
Counter Act, directed by Heath Affolter, Jon Affolter, Nathan Affolter and Thomas Affolter and starring J. Alex Brinson, Naika Toussaint and Teal Fiddler, is being screened at 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 18 along with the feature film Fractured Land, directed by Damien Gillis and Fiona Rayher and starring Caleb Behn, Janet Annesley and Maude Barlow.
