Eddy’s Kingdom • chowdesign

Greg Crompton’s debut feature-length documentary recounts one of the more batshit crazy episodes in Canadian history.

in the ’70s and ’80s, an immigrant barber from Lebanon had a singular obsession: build a family-friendly Middle Eastern island theme park in the Okanagan. offering submarine rides and mini-golf under the shadows of a giant camel and replica pyramid on a quiet lake in British Columbia could be either misguided or visionary — but with political conspiracy, international and domestic terrorism, legal battles, and a level of personal intrigue that wouldn’t be out of place in a soap opera, Eddy Haymour’s journey became part-Canadiana, part-true crime thriller.

speaking of which, the true crime aspect was the main approach for the poster design, with “ripped from the headlines” newspaper treatments hinting at narrative’s darker side, select photographs from Eddy’s past a nod to the archival footage in the film, and a title graphic that hints at violence.

capturing Eddy was the real trick, however. behind the moustache, thick-rimmed glasses, and thicker accent is an eccentric personality that shifts from jovial to reflective to defiant to menacing in a blink, so getting the right “lemme tell you something” pose was important in setting the tone for the piece.