The Deering Estate Foundation’s award-winning film On This Land, The Charles Deering Estate will be featured during a Lunch and Learn event at the Coral Gables Art Cinema on Tuesday, Aug. 28, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.
The event is sponsored by the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the Junior League of Miami, Coral Gables Museum and Deering Estate Foundation. A panel discussion will include historian Arva Moore Parks and archaeologist Bob Carr who appear in the film.
On This Land, The Charles Deering Estate was written by author and preservationist Becky Roper Matkov and produced and directed by Carl Kesser of Kesser Post Production. Research involved trips to Chicago, Sarasota and Sitges, Spain and interviews with historians, archaeologists, a former Florida governor and descendants of Charles Deering.
The new documentary was created as a project of the 100 Ladies of Deering, a philanthropic circle of the nonprofit Deering Estate Foundation, to tell the story of the 450-acre property that is now a Miami-Dade County-run park and museum. Honors received for the film include two Communicator Awards, two Telly Awards, a Dade Heritage Trust Preservation Award and a Florida Trust for Historic Preservation Award.
“Making the film was an adventure of endless new discoveries,” said Becky Roper Matkov, who chaired the volunteer film committee of six members of the 100 Ladies of Deering.
“The Deering Estate encompasses 10,000 years of history — saber-toothed tigers, Paleo-Indians, Tequesta burial mounds, pioneer homesteads, Henry Flagler’s railroad and the legacy of that remarkable conservationist, world-class art collector and first chairman of International Harvester Company, Charles Deering. The biggest challenge was condensing a gold mine of history, worthy of a Downton Abbey TV series, into a half-hour nugget of pure gold.”
The cost for the Lunch and Learn is $25 for members of the sponsoring organizations and $35 for non members and includes a buffet lunch provided by Catering by Les. Reservations can be made online or by calling the Coral Gables Chamber at 305-446-1657.
The Deering Estate Foundation Inc. was founded in 1989 as a charitable 501(c)3 community-based Florida corporation to preserve, protect and enhance the Deering Estate for this and future generations.
