Meet ‘Wild Divide’ filmmakers Bendick and Schmidt
The Bonita International Film Festival will screen The Wild Divide in the Hinman Auditorium during Shorts Block 2 beginning at 4:15 p.m. on Sunday, May 23. Directed by Eric Bendick and Danny Schmidt, The Wild Divide is denoted by exceptional production value (including breathtaking macro and micro cinematography and crystal clear 
studio-quality sound) and considered, thought-provoking content that makes a strong argument for preserving and protecting the Florida Wildlife Corridor.
Eric Bendick is an Emmy-winning writer, director and series producer. He has led filming expeditions in the Florida Everglades, the Grand Canyon, 
the Great Bear Rainforest, the Alaska Range, and to the most remote spot in Yellowstone National Park. His credits include numerous programs for National Geographic, Smithsonian, PBS, History Channel, Animal Planet, Microsoft, ABC, and the U.S. Department of Defense. His accolades include a Webby, a Wildscreen Panda Award and the Best Broadcast Feature Award from the International Wildlife Film Festival. Eric is a graduate of Brown University and Montana State University. Bendick co-directed The Last Green Thread 
(Mountainfilm 2019) with Danny Schmidt and also directed Chasing Ghosts (Mountainfilm 2020), a film that was shot in Florida’s wild wetlands as a team researched and photographed the ghost orchid, one of the world’s most iconic flowers (see below).
Danny Schmidt is an award-winning director, producer, 
and cinematographer of non-fiction television, documentaries, and web-content. He has produced, directed, and photographed documentary films for clients including PBS, National Geographic, Netflix, HHMI BioInteractive, NASA, the National Science Foundation, and many others. He won an NW Emmy award for cinematography for his DP work on the PBS 
film Indian Relay and another for best topical documentary for Finding Traction on Netflix. He received his MFA in Science and Natural History Filmmaking in 2012 from Montana State University and his BS in Earth Science from the University of Utah. He currently lives in Salt Lake City.
The Wild Divide follows 
three friends, Mallory Dimmitt, Carlton Ward and Joe Guthrie, as they set off across Florida’s imperiled Lake Wales Ridge on horseback, foot and paddleboard so that viewers can experience this place and meet the passionate stewards who call it home. Joe Guthrie now works as the predator/prey biologist for Archbold Biological Station, which released Cowboys and Scientists in 2019. A conservation photographer, Carlton Ward released Chasing Ghost, a fantastic documentary about the elusive ghost orchid pollinators.
May 7, 2021.
About the Author
Tom Hall is both an amateur artist and aspiring novelist who writes art quest thrillers. He is in the final stages of completing his debut novel titled "Art Detective," a story that fictionalizes the discovery of the fabled billion-dollar Impressionist collection of Parisian art dealer Josse Bernheim-Jeune, thought by many to have perished during World War II when the collection's hiding place, Castle de Rastignac in southern France, was destroyed by the Wehrmacht in reprisal for attacks made by members of the Resistance operating in the area. A former tax attorney, Tom holds a bachelor's degree as well as both a juris doctorate and masters of laws in taxation from the University of Florida. Tom lives in Estero, Florida with his fiancee, Connie, and their four cats.