After a season on the international film awards circuit, a documentary about North Side’s Beacon Farms has garnered five accolades, including, most recently, a best director prize for filmmaker Candy Whicker in France.
Whicker, who filmed and directed the documentary, earlier this month was awarded Best Director – Full Length Documentary at the Nice International Film Festival.
Whicker told the Compass via email she was “absolutely delighted” that her film has won the awards, “and as the festival season draws to a close, it is just fantastic to have received this award for Best Director”.
Sandy Urquhart, chief executive officer of the Beacon of Hope Cayman Foundation, which operates Beacon Farms, collected the award on Whicker’s behalf.
The film was shot over three years – before and after the COVID crisis – and documents the trials and tribulations of the non-profit enterprise, which offers second chances to people recovering from addiction.
As well as the Nice prize, the film also won the Science and Education Award at the London International Film Festival in February, and a silver at the Hollywood Independent Filmmaker Awards in November last year. It was also selected for showing at the Toronto International Women Film Festival in January, and has also been chosen to be screened at a final film festival in Seattle next month.
Whicker said, “As a small independent production company covering a local story in the Cayman Islands, we never dreamt that the film would receive so many accolades from the wider industry. It is a wonderful testament to all the people behind the Beacon Farms project who appeared in the film and shared their story.”
The film had an extended weekly run at the Camana Bay Cinema, where it was viewed by more than 1,000 people.
“Beacon Farms is a remarkable project and I think the film demonstrates how much work has gone into creating it,” Whicker said. “A fly-on-the-wall documentary such as this gives the audience insight and a deeper understanding of the motives driving the people who appear in the film, which helps to tell their story.
“I am extremely grateful to everyone who helped bring this film to completion, both those who appeared in the film and trusted me to tell their stories and those behind the scenes who are not in the spotlight but just as important.”
Fundraising continues for farm
Despite the international accolades and the enthusiastic response the film has garnered at local showings, as well as the growing sales of the produce grown on the farm, the operation remains in “urgent need of funding”, a spokesperson for the charity told the Compass.
“Based on a model of social entrepreneurship, Beacon Farms has the ability to become financially self-sustaining through sales of produce and products and farming services. However, until the point Beacon Farms can cover its operational costs, it needs financial support from the community,” the spokesperson said.
The 34-acre farm, which originally belonged to the family of the late Speaker of the House Edna Moyle, was purchased by philanthropist Granger Haugh in 2017. He donated the land officially to the Beacon of Hope Foundation, which runs the farm, in December 2022.
For more information or to donate, visit beaconfarms.org.
Additional reporting by Reshma Ragoonath.
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