Knockemdown Productions

A one-hour documentary that tells the story of how Standard Oil magnate Henry Flagler came to Florida in the late 1800s, built a railroad and hotel empire on the last American frontier, and launched a population boom that lasts a hundred years.

Engaging and light-hearted story of how a radical New Deal economic experiment during the Great Depression created an image of Key West in the popular culture and how that image became the island’s destiny. The film features interviews with famous contemporary writers, such as Gore Vidal and Russell Banks, and newly uncovered archival photos and footage, including rare Hemingway home movies.