Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival

Saturday, November 11---SHARKWATER, a stunningly beautiful nature documentary, brings audiences a rarely seen view of the kingdom below the seas. Filmed in high definition video, this beautiful and intense ecological film explores the shark rich waters of the world, exposing the exploitation and corruption surrounding the world's shark populations in the marine reserves of Cocos Island, Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.

But SHARKWATER is not your typical National Geographic panorama. For Toronto-born filmmaker and master diver Rob Stewart, exploring sharks began as an underwater adventure, but turned into a fascinating life journey on the balance of life on earth. Driven by a life—long fascination with sharks, Stewart debunks historical stereotypes and media depictions of sharks as bloodthirsty, man-eating monsters and reveals the reality of sharks as pillars in the evolution of the seas.

Rob Stewart

In an effort to protect sharks, Stewart teams up with renegade conservationist Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Their unbelievable adventure together starts with a battle with shark poachers in Guatemala and leads them through a bizarre maze of gunboat chases, mafia espionage, corrupt court systems and attempted murder charges, forcing them to flee for their lives. Through it all, Stewart discovers these magnificent creatures have gone from predator to prey, and that despite surviving the earth's history of mass extinctions, they could easily be wiped out within a few years due to human greed.

While films like JAWS have left an indelible image of sharks as flesh-hungry monsters, Stewart shows them in all their majestic beauty, in their natural habitat, and an essential part of the eco-system of the seas. SHARKWATER boasts stunning underwater photography, taking its audiences on a unique and amazing journey.

The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, and has won prizes at the Atlantic and Hawaii Film Festivals. It is included as one of the Closing Night film attractions of the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival and will have its gala screening on Sunday, November 12 at 7:30pm at the Parker Playhouse. Filmmaker Rob Stewart will attend to introduce the film and relate his amazing odyssey among the predators, both under and above sea level.

Sandy Mandelberger
Online Festival Dailies Editor