Police watchdog called in
Mayor calls 'BS' on list
U.S. authorities find bodies
Premier stands by pick
Canada's most-wanted list
Sask. will still get rebates
Santos ends comeback bid
Douglas C-54 plane crashes
Trump's 'eyes and ears'
US TikTok ban sent to Biden
Phish fans enter the Sphere
CN Rail profits fall 
Warriors snakebitten in loss
Iginla off to Europe
Rockets ink prospect
Alleged Tupac killer in court
Lawsuit accuses Megan
Bam Margera’s tour axed
B.C. residents now have the chance to view an award nominated documentary on the unique Okanagan tale of Eddy Haymour.
The film, Eddy’s Kingdom, is one of 64 documentaries now available online as part of Vancouver's DOXA Film Festival 2020, which went online this year due to COVID-19.
It tells the story of businessman Eddy Haymour, and how he bought Okanagan Lake’s Rattlesnake Island to build a Middle Eastern-themed theme park on it — and then wound up taking the Canadian embassy in Beirut hostage in order to try to get it back after the government took it from him under duress.
The 90-minute film, which is co-produced by Castanet sister-publication Vancouver is Awesome’s Bob Kronbauer, has been nominated for Best Direction, Best Screenwriting, Best Editing, and Best Documentary at the 2020 Leo Awards.
The online film festival launched Thursday and runs through to June 26. After that, the public will not have another chance to view the film until it finishes its festival run in a few months.
You can watch it online (only in B.C.) for $8 as part of the festival HERE.
SYNOPSIS:
Eddy's Kingdom recounts the story of businessman Eddy Haymour, and the extreme methods he used to construct a Middle Eastern-themed amusement park in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley. In 1955, Haymour immigrated to Edmonton, Alberta from Lebanon, and promptly started a chain of popular barber shops. On the tail of his success, in the early 1970s, he bought Rattlesnake Island, a piece of land resting in Lake Okanagan. Much to the dismay of many nearby residents, he dreamt of transforming it into an amusement park, complete with underwater submarines and a camel-shaped ice cream stand. Several obstacles prevented Eddy from reaching his dream, and a stranger-than-fiction string of events ensued, including a week-long hostage situation at the Canadian Embassy in Beirut.
Using archival footage, reenactments, and interviews with Eddy (now in his 80s) and his family members, Vancouver-based director Greg Crompton chronicles the saga of Haymour’s obsession. A controversial character, Eddy has been called both a narcissist and visionary, and his story details a very strange moment in B.C’s history.
