Trailer for Birches (2:24):
Almost all of us have something we’d like to create during our lifetime. Some of us dream of writing a popular book, painting a masterpiece, or composing a brilliant song. For many years, Larry Thiessen’s dream has been to make a movie – and not just any movie. His vision was to make a beautiful, thought-provoking film that expressed his Christian faith.
Larry Thiessen
Thiessen has worked in the television and media production industry for more than 25 years and has produced over 15 documentary and music specials for television and distribution in North America and abroad. He has worked with such folks as Juno award-winner Steve Bell and the Edmonton Symphony, as well as music legends Larry Norman and Chuck Girard. His work has won a number of awards. Thiessen has also been the Production Manager of Crown Entertainment in Edmonton, Alberta for decades, supervising all aspects of production and authoring hundreds of DVDs for the entertainment, industrial and educational markets.
For all his achievements, Thiessen had never made a feature film – one of the things on his bucket list. Then he read a book titled Silver Birches by British author Adrian Plass, and couldn’t help but think, “This would make a great movie.” He decided to pursue the idea further, and contacted Plass. Before long, with the help of his longtime business partner Brad Mix, he obtained the rights to the book.
Adrian Plass is one of today’s most successful Christian authors, and has written over thirty-five books, including a collection of poetry. He is also known in Britain for his work on radio, and is a popular speaker. Perhaps his best-known book is The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass (37 ¾), which has sold over a million copies worldwide.
Silver Birches, which Plass wrote in 2009, tells the story of a grieving widower who, a few months after his wife’s death, receives an invitation to a weekend reunion of members of his youth group. The invitation, to a rambling country estate in the British countryside, comes from a longtime friend of his late wife – who says she “has something for him from his wife, Jessica”. He overcomes his initial instinct to stay home and joins his old friends at the reunion. What transpires is a poignant and moving story, that blends Plass’s wry humour with his knack for addressing the deep issues we all face in a rich and insightful way.
Unlike many Canadian filmmakers, Thiessen and Mix stayed away from the usual route in Canada for financing the production.
“It’s just a maze in the Canadian film world, with so many complicated government avenues,” says Thiessen. “So we decided to fund this film differently. Brad tried some other sources of investment for faith-based and business projects, and got the ball rolling.”
The feature film, titled Birches, became an international collaboration. To ensure that the film got the support it needed for the story to be presented in first-class fashion, Thiessen and Mix found like-minded partners: co-producer Andrew Walkington in England, and international distributor Paul van der Niet in the Netherlands. Not only did this open up new financing and distribution opportunities, it also helped them find actors, locations and crew.
Filming of Birches, on location in England
The film was shot in the picturesque Peak District in northern England, on the edge of the Peninnes, a range of rolling hills and mountains. Two centuries-old country houses, Carnfield Hall and Woodthorpe Hall, were used as principal locations. However, as in almost every low-budget independent film, there were plenty of challenges. Thiessen and his fellow producers had to wear many hats. During the 12 days of production, they all acted as drivers, travel agents, cooks, waiters and prayer warriors.
“When you shoot a film in England in the fall, and the production schedule calls for a sunny day, there’s not much you can do but pray,” laughs Thiessen. “Fortunately, the clouds parted when we needed them to.”
Another reality of producing independent films is that many of the production crew and cast have to work for pay below scale.
“We got some really great people working very hard for much less then they would earn on a big-budget film,” says Thiessen. “The crew was mostly young aspiring filmmakers, straight out of college. They worked so enthusiastically, and stayed in Airbnb homes and whatever we could find on location. And the actors, some of whom are very well-known in the UK, worked amazingly well together as a team.”
Drew Waters
Birches stars Drew Waters, an American actor known for his previous work on TV shows True Detective and NCIS: Los Angeles, and the movie Parkland. Also featured in Birches are Todd Carty and Natasha Little. Carty was a busy child actor in his youth, and has since performed in many British TV shows over the years. He is best known for playing the central role of Mark Fowler in the award-winning BBC series Eastenders, a role he played for 12 years. Natasha Little is active in Britain’s theatre scene, and has also performed in a number of popular BBC TV productions such as The Father Brown Mysteries, Vanity Fair, and Far From the Madding Crowd. Silver Birches author Adrian Plass was also given a bit part in the movie, as a barman.
Adrian Plass, on location, with Larry Thiessen
Distribution is another big hurdle for independent filmmakers.
“Finding the right market for this type of film can be challenging,” says Thiessen, “but we’ve made great progress in Europe. It will be released in England, Netherlands, Germany and most of the western European countries. We are also getting traction in Latin America, and we’re working right now on getting it released in North America this fall. We also want to share it with faith communities – we know it would be a great discussion piece for a lot of groups.”
Thiessen is used to working on a tight budget, and it fired his creative juices. He and his co-producers’ goal was to produce a movie that “looked like a multimillion dollar production, with beautiful locations, great acting, and a gripping script.” They have successfully reached that goal – after watching it, I can say without reservation that Birches looks like it costs ten times the budget they had to work with. It succeeds on many levels; with such high production values, it’s beautiful to watch, authentic, and entertaining.
The Christian viewpoint is noticeably absent from mainstream Hollywood films. Viewers are often nevertheless hankering for a life-changing, powerful experience when they go to the movies. Birches is a Christian film that aspires – successfully, in my view – to be accessible to all viewers.
Larry Thiessen, during the filming of Birches
“I wanted to make sure that we were making a film that anyone could relate to,” says Thiessen. “We didn’t want to have a predictable, Pollyanna ending where all of the characters are somehow saved from their problems. This had to be a film that was realistic and honest, raising questions that we all have around grief, unhappiness, loneliness, failure – and how hope can emerge through our shared brokenness.”
Looks like Thiessen can move on to the next item on his bucket list.
For more information about Birches, follow them on Facebook.
All photos courtesy of Larry Thiessen.
