Edison Ford Estates screens Safron-Main Sail documentary on Koreshan legacy
The Edison Ford Winter Estates is hosting an evening of “films under the star” tonight. In addition to one of Thomas Edison’s very first “talkies” and a lookback at eleven years of the Fort Myers Film Festival, the night will feature The Koreshans: Legends and Legacies of Estero’s Urban Pioneers,” by Ilene Safron and Main Sail Video 
Productions.
Viewers will learn a lot about the Koreshans in is expertly-crafted documentary, which presents a series of re-enactments, 3D animations, breathtaking drone-made aerials and interviews with contemporary scholars. Over the course of the 
20-minute film, viewers will learn how the Koreshans brought culture and industry to Southwest Floridian in the late nineteenth century. Not only did tthe Koreshans organize one of the first symphony orchestras in the state, they operated nearly thirty businesses, including a machine shop, general store, bakery, post office and school. But they were perhaps better known for treating women as equals and 
enjoyed voting rights in the Unity long before passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The film also explains the connection between the Edisons, Fords and the Koreshan settlement.
The screenings take place on the lawn of Henry Ford’s winter home, 
The Mangoes, beginning at sunset. But get there by 7:30 and stake out your spot on the grass along the banks of the Caloosahatchee River. Tickets are $10 for Edison Ford members and $15 for non-members.
About the Author
Tom Hall is both an amateur artist and aspiring novelist who writes art quest thrillers. He is in the final stages of completing his debut novel titled "Art Detective," a story that fictionalizes the discovery of the fabled billion-dollar Impressionist collection of Parisian art dealer Josse Bernheim-Jeune, thought by many to have perished during World War II when the collection's hiding place, Castle de Rastignac in southern France, was destroyed by the Wehrmacht in reprisal for attacks made by members of the Resistance operating in the area. A former tax attorney, Tom holds a bachelor's degree as well as both a juris doctorate and masters of laws in taxation from the University of Florida. Tom lives in Estero, Florida with his fiancee, Connie, and their four cats.