Andrea

The Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival

South Florida-based Boca Talent and Model Agency is pleased to announce the screening of the movie, Black Water at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival this month.

Blackwater, a re-make of the Academy Award nominated 1972 motion picture Deliverance, features three of Boca Talent’s actors: Amy Simon, McCayne Blomberg and Tony Salsburg. The movie premieres at 8 p.m. Monday, Oct. 22 at the Cinema Paradiso.

“Blackwater was my first lead role in an Indie feature...it was such a great experience that I will never forget it,” Simon says. “I actually missed everyone when we weren't shooting. Doug (Zipperer), the executive producer, treated us like his daughters and made sure we were safe every step of the way.”

Simon and Blomberg play friends on an Everglades camping trip who are attacked by backwater clan men as they are chased deeper into the swamp. Salsburg plays one of the men who prey on Simon and Blomberg.

The film, directed and produced by Douglas Zipperer, Bill Schreiber, and Bill Rogers was shot over four months on location in the Everglades.

“I couldn’t be more proud of them. It’s going to be a great piece of work. It could be a breakout role for them, and it could lead to bigger things,” says Natalie Kahn Toewe, Boca Talent president. “This will put the actors on a whole other level. For months, it was living and being that character.”

The movie will also be released on DVD later this year.

About the movie:

Click here to view the trailer.

Still a camping movie, the Deliverance remake focuses on the friendships of four women, replacing the men in the original. And Producer Bill Rogers says while they may have used Deliverance as a starting point, Blackwater stands all on its own.

“While we took much inspiration from one of the greatest camping movies of all time, we decided early on that Blackwater would be a totally different movie, conforming more to the locations and situations that we had available to us,” Rogers says .

The tension between raw nature and the human will to survive remains a major theme of the movie as Simon and MaCayne along with two other women struggle to find their out of the Everglades even as Salsburg and the other clansmen target the women, leading them further into the swamps.

“Blackwater is a story of courage, friendship and the instinct to survive. Instead of becoming victims, our women band together to overcome deadly odds and emerge victorious.  I guess you could say girl-power is a prominent theme in Blackwater,” Rogers says.

 The backdrop for the film works as well as the Chattooga River in North Carolina that was used for Deliverance.

“Fortunately, our executive producer, R. Douglas Zipperer, brought some terriffic locations, cool vehicles like 4-wheelers, airplane, airboat and that made the adventure more than just a down-river camp out,” Rogers says.

But filming in the Everglades did present some challenges, Rogers says.

“Mother Nature didn't always cooperate… The rain seemed to get worse from take to take and I remember looking up from the monitor and seeing McCayne (Blomberg) and Amy (Simon) wrapped together in a soaking wet towel, looking very cold and miserable,” Roger says. “The director came over to me and said ‘Now that’s the look we need for the rest of the movie’.  And so it was.”

For tickets, go to the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival web site, fliff.com.

Producer Bill Rogers speaks candidly about his experiences with Boca Talent and the actors

“Thanks to Boca model and Talent we were able to cast some of our most essential characters.

Thankfully, Natalie brought us together with Amy Simon for one of the leading roles as "Megan", the sweet and loveable mom who wouldn't hurt a fly.  Amy absolutely nailed her performance and somehow always managed to look great even though we were working in some pretty rough conditions, wet and dirty through most of the shoot.   

We also signed McCayne Blomberg through Boca.  She played the rough-around-the-edges city girl, Kat.  When McCayne arrived for the initial audition limping from a skydiving accident we knew she had what we were looking for.  We didn't realize she was terrified of spiders...which were everywhere. 

When I mentioned to Natalie that we needed a ruthless backwater-type bad guy for the role of "Tuck" she introduced us to Tony Salsberg, absolutely one of the nicest guys I've ever met.  But Tony could instantly transform into a very scary character and brought a powerful new dimension to our project.  Tony is a real pro who comes prepared, goes the extra mile and follows through, all the way to the end.”