“Literal Body Buzz” | R.T. Thorne, 40 Acres
After a series of plagues and wars leaves society in ruins, the Freemans are surviving—even thriving—on a farm in the middle of nowhere... so long as they repel the occasional raiding party.
Former soldier Hailey (Danielle Deadwyler) and her partner Galen (Michael Greyeyes) fled the collapse along with their children, training them to fight (and, yes, kill). But now Hailey’s eldest Emanuel (Kataem O’Connor) is a young man, and when he meets a young woman (Milcania Diaz-Rojas) in the forest beyond the fence, his need for human contact could place the whole family in jeopardy.
Screening May 4, at 9:30 p.m., at the Music Box Theatre, as part of the Chicago Critics Film Festival, 40 Acres is an action-packed debut by filmmaker R.T. Thorne. The film premiered at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival and will come to U.S. theaters July 4, via Magnolia Pictures, which acquired the film shortly before its U.S. premiere at SXSW.
Ahead of the screening, Thorne graciously took the time to answer this year’s CCFF filmmaker questionnaire. Below, his individual responses.
How did you first become interested in filmmaking? What was your path toward directing your first film?
I always had a love of storytelling and movies, but as a child when I couldn’t go to theatres (I had to go with my brother, ‘cause I wasn’t old enough) I’d be reading comic books and drawing a lot, listening to Wu Tang Clan and Nirvana on my yellow Sony Walkman. I used to draw visuals to the songs that I heard, which will eventually led me down the path of looking into directing music videos.
It wasn't until I had a career doing that for almost 10 years that I started to feel the urge to tell longer narratives, which brought me to television and working with actors. At that time, any scripts I would get were either about the hip-hop music industry or hood narratives, full of stereotypical portrayals of Black life that were shades of what I’d seen before; so, I knew, if I wanted something different, I’d have to write it for myself. That journey took almost seven years, to bring 40 Acres to screen.
What inspired you to make the film you're bringing to the festival?
My relationship with my mother, who had to make some very difficult choices for us as a family when I was growing up, is really the core of the film. A lot of what goes on between Hailey and Manny are echoes of things that my mother and I had to grow through. She had a very hard life, and she took it upon herself to make sure we had the tools that she felt were necessary for us as to navigate the world.
When I really started looking at the depictions of Black mothers and sons in the history of movies, there really wasn’t a lot of diversity in what was depicted (broken home, grieving mother, criminal son), so a conflicted but loving relationship was something that I wanted to focus on. I'm also a die-hard genre fan, I love science fiction, thrillers and horror, so I wanted to project that contentious relationship into a world that was literally trying to kill them, and to create a fun, take-no-prisoners, action-hero mother role.
Theme-wise, food insecurity has always been something I’ve been interested in exploring, which fit perfectly in a post-apocalyptic survival story about a family of farmers trying to defend their land. As I thought about the historical weight of what Black ancestors had to go through to secure land to work, it naturally connected with a shared history of colonial trauma that Indigenous communities have experienced. I realized I had never even seen a blended Black and Indigenous family centred in a film before. Both our communities had be relegated at best to background roles in many Hollywood westerns—or, worse, as the villains or victims—so the idea of a unique, kick-ass family of mixed Black and Indigenous heroes surviving in the future became something I needed to see.
Tell us about a film that you consider a guiding influence (whether it has informed your overarching vision as a filmmaker, directly informed the title you're bringing to the festival, or both).
A lot of people can’t choose just one film but Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing is hands down my favourite film. It literally altered my consciousness as to what is possible with the medium, how you can entertain but challenge an audience, society and perspectives, but then—rather than offer answers—leave people to consider what they’ve witnessed.
I love the humanity in that film, the vibrant multicultural Brooklyn community presented, and love the idea that, after the film is over, those people gotta wake up the next day and figure out how to deal with each other again. The world Spike created is deeply poetic and human, and I think it's an absolute masterpiece. I was fortunate enough to get to tell him how much it meant to me on a Hollywood Reporter roundtable last year at the Red Sea Film Fest before our 40 Acres international premiere, which is a memory I’ll never forget.
Tell us about a location that's held significance to the film you're bringing to the festival: a setting where filming took place, a geographic area that provided a source of inspiration, or another type of space that comes to mind for you in thinking about the film. What made this place so special?
The location that meant the most to the film is the farm that became the Freemans’ generational home, where we shot over 80% of the film. A lot of the farms in northern Ontario have their houses and structures quite near their roadways, but I wanted a farm that lent itself to Hailey’s isolationist psychology. Our amazing locations manager, Doug Brisebois, found one out of almost forty we looked at that was far from a highway, with a small farmhouse that looked out onto a large field.
I love shooting on location, placing my crew and actors in the environment that our family lives in, and having them actually have to navigate and take care of it. It also helps me ground the film’s tone and stakes, working on a living location. Our incredible production designer, Peter Costco, transformed the fields, farmhouse and barn to what I needed it to be, and it just felt like this generational farm had been there for as long as the script said it had been.
The theatrical experience brings us together to celebrate artistic experience and expand our horizons as human beings. Tell us about a memorable theatrical experience from your life.
I have vivid memories of being dropped off to the theatre with my brother and his friends to watch Jurassic Park and then sneaking into Cliffhanger afterwards, which became kind of a ritual in my younger years. But it was going to the Varsity & Carlton Cinemas in Toronto, to see the independent films they specialized in showing, that it became an addiction.
One year, I was searching for a hard-to-find film from a little known Brit filmmaker named Christopher Nolan, called Memento. I remember walking out of the theatre with literal body buzz. I didn’t even understand how a story could be told like that. I’m a fan of bold swings in storytelling or character. I love filmmakers that challenge expectations, show me something I haven’t seen, and take me on a ride.