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Oakland Filmmaker Takes On Alt-Right by David Ballard
Celai West, the child actress in Jayson Johnson's 'Redress', does her part for goodness. photo: courtesy J.Johnson
RAISED ON THE ROUGH-AND-TUMBLE
West Side of Chicago, 35-year-old African-American filmmaker and Northern California transplant Jayson Johnson saw his share of gang-related crime while growing up.
But he never could have foreseen the rapid rise of a “nationwide gang” known as the Alt-Right movement, and the overtly racist beliefs and violent acts that it has inflicted on American culture since Donald Trump was elected president.
He also couldn’t have foreseen how much positive response his new short film, “Redress”, is getting.
Written, produced and directed by Johnson, who is a veteran TV producer, the 8-minute opus looks into the mind of a despondent Caucasian family man who seeks revenge on the family of an African-American. As it happened, the latter was a drunk driver who received a relatively light sentence, despite the fact that he killed the man’s wife and daughter.
Ultimately, he is aided in his quest for vigilante justice by a neo-Nazi he encounters at his local bar, and…well, let’s just say the film doesn’t have a happy ending.
Jayson Johnson directs Celai West in a scene from 'Redress'. photo: courtesy J.Johnson
In true indie film spirit, “Redress”’s $10K budget was crowdfunded by over 120 Kickstarter supporters, with donations averaging $60.
And although he wishes it were otherwise, Johnson admits that the timing couldn’t be better for the release of his prescient production.
“I knew this country was going to change somewhat when Trump got elected, but man!" Johnson told me during a recent phone interview. "I originally wanted to make this movie as a stepping-stone to bigger and better things, but now it’s really taken on a life of its own.”
According to Johnson, even before production had wrapped, the script had made it into the finals of the Los Angeles Cinefest screenwriting competition, and was also accepted for competition at the prestigious film festivals of Sundance, the South by Southwest Writers Lab and the granddaddy of them all: Cannes.
Due for a mid-September release on the film festival circuit, even the trailer for “Redress” is garnering loads of attention. Indeed, it racked up almost 10,000 hits on Facebook within a few days of Johnson posting it and shows no signs of slowing down.
Aside from the timely subject matter, Johnson also attributes the success of his politically charged project to his team of fellow Bay Area filmmakers.
“People always think about Los Angeles and New York when it comes to film and TV, but the truth of the matter is, the San Francisco Bay Area has a ton of really talented writers, producers, actors and technical people,” he explained.
The controversial neo-Nazi scene from Jayson Johnson's 'Redress'. photo: courtesyJ.Johnson
“Between the SF Art Institute, the San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking and the SF State University Film Department—not to mention other independent filmmaking organizations like Scary Cow—it’s actually pretty easy to find very experienced, talented people who are willing to work on your project for a very reasonable rate – if not for free,” I was told by “Redress” co-executive producer, Tony Gapastione, also via phone.
Although Johnson and Gapastione had already worked together on two crowd-funded short films in the past two years, “Redress” was Johnson’s first shot at directing.
And even with an MFA in Film from Eastern Illinois University and two years working in the marketing department of Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope Films under his belt, there was no getting around “baby director” jitters for Johnson.
“I’ve gotta admit, I was a little nervous at first—I definitely didn’t want to screw it up!” Johnson told me. “But after I made it through the first day of shooting without killing anyone or destroying any equipment, things actually went pretty smoothly after that.”
Johnson is planning on distributing “Redress” through as many digital outlets as possible, and is also looking forward to screening it live at Town Hall-style events around the country.
“Now is not the time to back down, especially when you see how far what used to be fringe groups like the KKK and the neo-Nazis have penetrated into the consciousness of mainstream America,” he added.
“I don’t want this film to necessarily be some kind of ‘rallying cry” for the anti-fascist movement, but I sure would like it to at least be a conversation starter."
Jayson Johnson on the set of 'Redress'. photo: J.Johnson
“I’m hoping that by screening 'Redress' at live, community activist-style events, it will provide people with a catalyst that will allow them to gather their thoughts and focus on what can be done to halt the rise of fascism in this country. And to start getting back on track with the promise of equality and human dignity that was started by Martin Luther King and carried forward by Barack Obama.”
Currently he is in talks with the NAACP for sponsorship and is happy to announce that the trailer has racked up 15K and counting views on Facebook.
If you are interested in booking a screening of “Redress” at a theater or community center near you, please contact .
Author David Ballard, after staff writing at the San Francisco Chronicle, went on to write, produce and/or act in over 200 hours of cable and network television programming and can be reached