Derek Vs Derek

Derek Vs Derek, the West Country documentary directed by BAFTA winner James Dawson, is screening at the Weymouth Pavilion on Monday 9 November. It's part of a UK tour managed by Dartmouth Films, and the Weymouth showing runs at 1pm in the Main Auditorium.

The film is built around two men who share a first name but couldn't be further apart on how to treat the land. Derek Banbury is a dairy farmer who's horrified by what he sees as the 'devastation' of his neighbour's farm. That neighbour is Derek Gow, an ex-sheep farmer the media has dubbed the 'maverick rewilder', who's hellbent on turning his land into an oasis for nature. The two spend the film arguing over everything that sits between them: food production, hedges, beavers, and escaping wild boar.

It's a clash of two very different ways of looking at the countryside—one focused on producing food, the other on restoring nature—and the film lets them go at it. The reviews have been warm: Screen Daily called it an 'engagingly eccentric crowd-pleaser', and Isabella Tree described it as 'hilarious while at the same time being empathetic and incredibly powerful'. The filmmakers themselves describe it as blunt, funny, inspiring and heartwarming.

It's a 15 rated screening, so keep that in mind if you're bringing anyone younger. The running time is 1 hour 28 minutes, and tickets are £5. That's a Monday afternoon in the Main Auditorium at the Pavilion, so it's an easy one to slot into a weekday.