Adapting Peter Matthiessen’s ‘Far Tortuga’

The Church will present “Adapting ‘Far Tortuga”: The Making of an Ecological Thriller Film in the Footsteps of Peter Matthiessen,” on Sunday, October 8, at 6 p.m. Jack Evans, screenwriter and director, presents an immersive evening of Long Island’s vital legacy of maritime storytelling in the film adaptation of the Peter Matthiessen masterpiece, “Far Tortuga.” The Church will host a live talk with Evans, a trailer screening of the film, and a theatrical performance and live reading of the script.

Staring into the space between human spirituality and the worldview of other species, “Far Tortuga” follows the lives of the last turtle fisherman of the Grand Cayman. The story investigates the belief systems of subsistence hunters, the colonial consequences alive in the 1960s Caribbean, and tells an astonishing moral fable about the overconsumption of the ocean’s bounty.

Since 2021 the crew of independent filmmakers of Another World Entire Productions, led by Evans, have followed in Matthiessen’s footsteps and the trail blazed by all the East Coast maritime storytellers before him. Shot on location in the Cayman Islands and Belize, the film project has become a magnetic point for artists, historians, and adventurers. The story follows nine subsistence fishermen signed onto a voyage to harvest sea turtles off the Central American coast. In their struggles with an abusive captain, overfished waters and their own fears of turtling’s spiritual consequences, all fail to notice that something is hunting them. “Far Tortuga” is as much a psychological thriller as it is an anthropology piece and a morality play. Supported by the late author’s family and friends at The Peter Matthiessen Center and in the spirit of “Moby Dick” and early Werner Herzog Films, “Far Tortuga” confronts the contradictory human nature of consumption and closeness with other species.

Jack Evans is an anthropologically trained journalist and screenwriter from Tennessee. His fascination with mythologies, literature and wildernesses have led him from academic studies at the University of Edinburgh to conservation work across rural Tanzania and Zambia. He comes from a family of poets, painters and professors, and has pursued his writing craft at a professional level from age 11. He wrote, directed and produced AWE’s premiere short film, “Eden River,” and is the co-creator of a miniseries with Cole Hauser and has been a close collaborator of his late mentor, Cormac McCarthy.

The performers, Joe Taylor and Ramsden Madeus, are New York City-based actors of Caribbean descent and co-stars in “Eden River.” Taylor and Madeus are cast in key roles in “Far Tortuga” and will be performing a 20-minute adaptation of the film’s main themes live at The Church.

Guided by the legacy of one of America’s most distinguished writers and naturalists, Peter Matthiessen — an East End resident who was an early and eloquent advocate for a more socially just, environmentally sound, and spiritually conscious world — the Peter Matthiessen Center seeks to provide a collaborative forum for writers, thinkers and activists in pursuit of innovative solutions to heal our endangered planet.

After the performance, there will be a Q&A with Evans, the cast and crew, as well as the family and friends of The Peter Matthiessen Center. Light refreshments will be served.

Tickets for the event are $10 (members attend for free) and reservations are required at thechurchsagharbor.org. The Church is at 48 Madison Street in Sag Harbor.