Eddy’s Kingdom crowns DOXA fest
Four decade-plus Okanagan island obsession one of 66 short and feature streamable films
Have you watched all of the Netflix content? Has Quibi left you wondering what the heck is Quibi? Do all of your conversations start with the question: “What are you watching?”
If you are like many people now into the third month of COVID-19 distancing, you are on the hunt for some fresh viewing content.
The good news is Vancouver’s DOXA Documentary Film Festival, which had to cancel its live May festival due to the pandemic, has shifted its programming to an online screening platform. The long-running celebration of film will be streaming short and feature-length films — 66 in total — from around the world to our province June 18-26.
Kicking off the festival is Wintopia from Montreal filmmaker Mira Burt-Wintonick. The film is the director’s homage to her father, the acclaimed filmmaker Peter Wintonick (Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media).
“A lot of his work is incredibly relevant at the moment,” said Selina Crammond, DOXA’s director of programming.
Burt-Wintonick created Wintopia from tapes and recordings her father had made over the years that were meant for a project on the idea of Utopia.
“After he passes away, she picks up his dusty old tapes and starts reviewing them to craft sort of an homage to him and his work and his legacy, but also piecing together the remnants of his final project, which was really looking towards building a better future for us all,” Crammond said.
“It’s a really beautiful family-focused film, but it also has a hopeful note with these scenes of Utopia and what that could look like beyond the disaster we’re in right now.”
While it’s not exactly optimal to watch films crafted for the big screen and an audience experience on your laptop in bed, Crammond feels that out of the ashes of the COVID-19 wreckage there may be a bright spot for films as this streaming approach adds accessibility to the mix.
“It is a new opportunity and I am really curious to see how it plays out,” said Crammond. “For me, the most exciting thing is being able to reach audiences outside of Vancouver proper. Because the films are geo-blocked by British Columbia, so that means we can reach folks out in the Okanagan and up island, interior communities, suburbs, so that’s nice.”
That is good news as one of the DOXA entries. The feature film Eddy’s Kingdom likely will be of special interest to Okanagan viewers who remember the name Eddy Haymour.
Back in the early and mid1970s, Haymour — who moved to Halifax from Lebanon in 1955 — was obsessed with turning Rattlesnake Island on Okanagan Lake (directly east of Peachland) into a Middle Eastern-themed theme park called the Morroccan Shadou.
That never happened, as the W.A.C. Bennett-led B.C. government put numerous roadblocks in Haymour’s way. His plan was thwarted and his lifelong hatred for the government was born.
Eddy’s Kingdom has everything from government misuse of power to racism to shady legal battles that included 37 criminal charges, to a hostage-taking in Lebanon, to numerous violent threats and a broken family.
“It has wide appeal. It has that zany historical angle,” said Crammond, who wasn’t familiar with this piece of B.C. history before she sat down to watch the 90-minute film.
“It is pretty unbelievable, the scale of controversy he went through trying to make his island fantasy a reality. I think beyond that, there is a lot of depth to the story. His family members are worth listening to and hearing out throughout the story.
“I think he is such a bombastic character and takes up a lot of space even in the film, but he is not without his own critics within his own family.”
I grew up in Kelowna in the 1970s and 1980s, where the Eddy Haymour story was lore. The island and its concrete pyramid and mini golf track were just part of the view if you were boating to the “cliffs,” a popular cliff jumping sight just south of the island. Invariably, passing by the island Haymour’s name and legend would come up. “He sent letter bombs to the premier’s house,” was one favourite refrain.
Director Greg Crompton, too, was a Kelowna kid who had heard about Haymour. But he had a little more than hearsay.
“Eddy needed some realtors to appraise the island, like he was trying to sell it, and so my dad went with him there,” Crompton said of his dad Don’s brush with the infamous Haymour in the early 1970s.
Crompton said that Eddy told Don he was going to send letter bombs, so his father smartly backed away from any business with Haymour.
“We grew up with that lore in our family,” said Crompton, who also revisits Haymour’s other big idea — Castle Haymour, a bed and breakfast situated on the side of the highway in Peachland.
What made this place, built in the late 1980s, notable was not its themed rooms or Haymour’s penchant for dressing in costume and regaling guests with his life story.
No, what really was the attention grabber was the eight-foot statue of Haymour with its arm extended and finger pointing directly at his beloved and lost island.
Four-plus decades later and Haymour’s myopathy appears to have not abated. He still wants the island back, which is likely the reason he agreed to tell his story and have his story told in this film.
“He was willing to play ball,” said Crompton, adding, though, that the final cut left Haymour less than thrilled. “I was true on my word and we did show both sides of the story. He was angry, certainly, but I think he understood that the documentary would not be just his word, but everybody’s.”
In this case, the other voices include Peachland residents, a selection of his lawyers and disgruntled and supportive family members.
“I think the message is a cautionary tale of obsession,” said Crompton. “He leaves everything behind for this island.”
The film, which first premiered in front of an actual live audience in February at the Victoria Film Festival, will be streamed for DOXA audiences on Thursday and June 26.
While movies are the main draw, film fans also enjoy festivals for the added programming, such as creator talks. Recognizing this, the DOXA folks have also set up some livestreaming events, including a talk about the opening night film with filmmaker Mira Wintonick and some special guests.
“We are saying please watch the film on Thursday and Friday or Saturday afternoon and then join us with questions on Saturday evening,” Crammond said.