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Florida Gone Wild – River Obscura: Secrets of a Blackwater River
August 31, 2024 @ 6:51 pm – 7:45 pm EDT
Dark and mysterious, blackwater rivers can be intimidating to behold. This 55 minute film explores a wild and remote river in Florida’s eastern Panhandle known as the Sopchoppy. Musician, composer, cinematographer and naturalist Sammy Tedder reveals this blackwater river from a perspective mostly unseen—from underwater—and along hidden tributary creeks few have explored. Tedder provides the narration and composed the original music for this film which is the first episode of what is to be a limited series about this blackwater river.
Director/Writer/Producer: Samuel C. Tedder
Starring: Sammy Tedder | Sandy Tedder
Drone Footage: Matt Morgan
2024 | 55 mins | US | Color | Documentary, Environmental, Local Interest
The filmmakers are expected to be in attendance for a post-film discussion.
Screening in Theater #1:
Other films in this program:
- Gopher Games
- Tigers of the Sky
About the Filmmaker
Sammy Tedder and his wife Sandy live in a remote cabin north of the village of Sopchoppy in the Eastern Panhandle of north Florida.
After being a professional musician for more than 50 years Sammy is now involved in producing nature films about the Sopchoppy River and the surrounding wild places where he lives. In addition to his photography he composes his own soundtrack music and uses several genres of music—from Native American style flutes and drums to jazz saxophone—to convey his experiences in north Florida’s rapidly changing wild environments.
Director’s Statement
Through my experiences living on the Sopchoppy River since the early 1980s, I have realized that even though nature is cyclical through the seasons it is also always in transition.
There are many constants in this environment but from year to year it is never quite the same. I began documenting these changes years ago—at first through recording the nature sounds and then through video. My hope is to document this wild place as it currently is because I can see the changes rapidly taking place because of development and changing weather patterns.
I want to show others what it was like while I lived here. Hopefully others will appreciate this wild environment as much as I do and will strive to preserve it.