Unearthing mysteries of prehistoric P.E.I.
Island filmmaker Will Beckett to give a presentation on Feb. 13
Island filmmaker and photographer Will Beckett will be the first speaker in the 2018 Island Studies lecture series.
Beckett will bring his childhood fascination with prehistoric life to the Faculty Lounge of UPEI’s SDU Main Building on Tuesday, Feb. 13 at 7 p.m.
Beckett will discuss the behind-the-scenes adventures of making his forthcoming documentary series, “Prehistoric P.E.I.”
Beckett spent the past three years making the first documentary about Prince Edward Island’s little-known prehistoric past—a journey that’s taken him as far as Philadelphia in his quest to determine where all of P.E.I.’s fossils have gone.
Admission to the lecture is free.
In 1845, a farmer unearthed one of Canada’s very first fossils in New London, PEI. Islanders still find fossils of plants and animals embedded in cliffs, lying openly on the beaches, and buried under the soil. The public seldom hears about these discoveries, and even more rarely do they get a chance to see them unless they visit museums in Ontario or Nova Scotia.
PEI’s fossils paint a fascinating picture of a time long before the dinosaurs when the land teemed with a variety of life. Will’s lecture covers the inspiration for, and the information around, the documentary and the discoveries he’s made along the way. He’ll also offer a sneak peek of some of the documentary footage, along with a glimpse of what Prince Edward Island looked like 290 million years ago.
Originally from St. Margaret’s Bay, Nova Scotia, Beckett now lives in Charlottetown. He’s worked as a crewmember on TV projects such as CBC’s “The Songs of Gene MacLellan” and “The Stats of Life”. He’s also acted in commercials and appeared in the Island-produced feature film “Kooperman”.