Chicago Feminist Film Festival / Pan African Film Festival 2019 – An Act of Terror
The true story of Virginia Christian, a 16-year-old African American girl accused of murder in the Jim Crow South.
Interview with Writer/Director/Producer Ashley Brim
Watch the Act of Terror here:
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Thank you so much for featuring An Act of Terror. I encountered Virginia Christian's story around the same time #sayhername and #findourgirls were trending on social media. Sandra Bland. Tarika Wilson. Korryn Gaines. Name by name my eyes were opened to the violent oppression and silencing of black women in America. Reframed by this modern context, Christian's story felt very relevant. It tragically didn't feel "old" and I had an urgent desire to tell this story from her point of view.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
History repeats itself because stories like Virginia Christian's disappear. Through An Act of Terror, I hope we are able to more closely examine America's failure to address its legacy of racial inequality and the centuries of racial terror that legacy has wrought. Until we find the courage to do so, we are bound to the ugly history we have inherited and the lies we've told ourselves to live with it.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
An Act of Terror is about sacrifice, injustice, and having a voice. By telling Virginia Christian’s story from her point of view, we have tried to give her the voice she was denied at her trial. We hope seeing these events through her eyes allows our audience to viscerally experience how easily a racially biased culture can use their institutions to intimidate and disenfranchise an entire community.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
The most meaningful development was when Rachel Rush agreed to co-write the film. I couldn’t have asked for a more generous partner. Our conversations about race, specifically her experience as a black woman and mine as a white woman, made the film a much richer exploration of racism in America.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
It has been wonderful to get very positive feedback at our festival screenings. Winning Audience Awards at Virginia Film Festival and Richmond International Film Festival, places so close to the events in our film, has been especially meaningful to us.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
When you make a film about the white supremacy embedded in our justice system you expect some controversy. It’s been really gratifying to receive positive feedback and very smart questions from festival audiences. We did receive one negative piece of feedback from a reviewer on IMDB who was offended by our depiction of violence in the film. And while that was disappointing, it did demonstrate the film was affecting our audience in a powerful way.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
We hope to reach an even broader audience than we have at festivals. If you are interested in hearing from us when we release AAoT online, please sign up for our mailing list at anactofterror.com.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Our hope is that, after our festival run, AAoT can be available widely as a tool for anti-racist education. We are at the early stages of creating a companion guide that could be used to screen and discuss the film in a group setting. It would be great to find a distribution partner who shares our goals, someone to finance a social action campaign, educators and institutions who are interested in using the film in their programming, and journalists who can help us spread the word.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
The film is a call to confront the narrative of racial difference that sanctioned slavery, allowed thousands of African Americans to be lynched, and stubbornly persists in our criminal justice system today. Racial injustice endures because white Americans seem determined to remain blind to its presence in the bedrock of our institutions. Once you encounter a story like Virginia Christian's, that truth is impossible to ignore. We hope our audience leaves ready to examine the role they can play in dismantling the racist system we’ve inherited.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
How have I benefited from living in a white supremacist society?
Would you like to add anything else?
Telling this story not only gave me the opportunity to work with a predominantly African American cast - including the incredible Olivia Washington and Tony-winning actor Tonya Pinkins - but also a diverse team of filmmakers behind the camera. Our team is 50% female, 20% people of color, and 68% of our department heads are women. Together, we created 1912 in the middle of downtown Charlotte, fully dressed completely empty locations, and laughed hysterically when we realized the planes that just wouldn't clear were for skydiving--they'd be there all day. My crew begged, borrowed, and used up hard-earned favors to make this film. I am so proud to have shared in their work.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I am writing a proof of concept short that I plan to shoot in the fall, working on the final season of the Showtime series HOMELAND, and am a fellow in the Fox Directors Lab. Rachel Rush, who co-wrote AAoT, is developing her first feature as well and working as a Writers' Assistant on POSE and RATCHED for Ryan Murphy Television. Olivia Washington (Virginia Christian) is in the play "Familiar" at The Old Globe in San Diego through the beginning of March.
Interview: February 2019
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
An Act of Terror
The true story of Virginia Christian, a 16-year-old African American girl accused of murder in the Jim Crow South.
Length: 16:07
Director: Ashley Brim
Producer: Ashley Brim, Elizabeth A. Lyons, Chris Riddle
Writer: Ashely Brim and Rachel Rush
About the writer, director and producer:
ASHLEY BRIM (Co-writer/Director/Producer) is a photographer turned award-winning filmmaker and a producer on the Showtime series HOMELAND. Her short AN ACT OF TERROR has won many awards including Best U.S. Short Film at Catalina Film Festival. Ashley was one of eight directors chosen for the 2018 FOX DIRECTORS LAB and a 2017 HALF Initiative fellow in the Ryan Murphy Directing Mentorship Program. She also recently won the 2018 Film Empire “Fempire” Filmmaker Competition.
CO-WRITER
Rachel Rush is a freelance writer and filmmaker. AN ACT OF TERROR is her first short film script. She attended the University of Miami's School of Communication, where she produced her first short film, FAMILIA, and earned a Bachelor of Science in Communication with a focus in Motion Pictures. She is currently developing a feature-length screenplay. Rachel lives in Los Angeles, where she works as a Writers’ Assistant on FX’s POSE and Netflix’s RATCHED.
PRODUCERS:
Producer Elizabeth A. Lyons has received numerous accolades for her work from festivals including: Catalina Film Festival, Virginia Film Festival, and as a finalist for the Roy W. Dean Grant and the Sloan Foundation Grant. Her professional background includes working on the shows HOMELAND, HAPPYISH and as an associate producer on HOUSE OF CARDS. Elizabeth received her MFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts Asia and is a member Producers Guild of America.
Chris Riddle is a producer, filmmaker, and assistant director. Chris got his start working on independent features and shorts in North Carolina. He has produced 7 short films including Ashley's first short SWIPED and AN ACT OF TERROR. Chris works as an Assistant Director in Los Angeles and recently won his second Directors Guild Award as a member of the BARRY directing team.
Key cast: Olivia Washington (Virginia Christian), Karen Reynolds (Ida Belote), and Tonya Pinkins (Mary Church Terrell)
Looking for: distributors, journalists, film festival directors
Facebook: An Act of Terror
Twitter: @anactofterror
Instagram: @anactofterror
Website: www.anactofterror.com
Other: IMDB
Made in association with: The Chimaera Project (Fiscal Sponsor)
Funders: Private donations to our fiscal sponsor, crowdfunding on Seed and Spark, and self-funding
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Pan African Film Festival / Los Angeles - 2/8 and 2/17; Sedona International Film Festival / Sedona, AZ - 2/27 and 3/1; Chicago Feminist Film Festival / Chicago - 3/1; Show Me Justice Film Festival / Warrensburg, MO - 4/4