Montreal World Film Festival's blog

Saturday, August 30------The Montreal World Film Festival hosted the World Premiere last evening of Scottish filmmaker Steven Lewis Simpson’s latest film REZ BOMB. This marks the director's third feature in a row to World Premiere at the Festival, with previous showings of THE TICKING MAN (2003) and its sequel RETRIBUTION (2005).

While his previous films were set in his native Scotland, REZ BOMB provides quite a contrast. The story is set on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, one the poorest place in the USA. In its original script form, the film was to take place in Edinburgh, but after visiting South Dakota and finding a rapport with the local native American population, the director decided to switch locales and base his thriller/love story in the US.

REZ BOMB pairs Tamara Feldman ( (Dirty Sexy Money, Hatchet, Perfect Stranger) as a Lakota woman and Trent Ford (How to Deal, Gosford Park, September Dawn) as her white boyfriend. The film also provides a juicy part for native American actor and activist Russell Means (Last of the Mohicans, Natural Born Killers).

The plot, about lovers from different backgrounds who run afould of a ruthless money lender, and find themselves in a race against the clock to bail themselves out of a dangerous situation. While the location shooting in South Dakota takes advantage of the desolate plains and mountains of the area and the obvious poverty of the Reservation itself, it tells a universal story that would not have been out of place in Rio, Marseilles, Addis Abbaba, Calcutta or any other atmospheric location of decay.

Director Simpson decided to shoot on the Indian reservation after spending time there and gaining the trust of the locals, making it one of the first films shot on Indian land and with local participation and bringing much needed capital to the impoverished community.

The Montreal World Film Festival has become a kind of touchstone for the Scottish director. "I love the audiences here", he gushed. "They are so knowledgable about film and willing to engage." The strong reaction here a few years ago to his debut film THE TICKING MAN  made him realize the film had much greater potential than first perceived, eventually leading to a big-budget Hollywood remake that is now in the works.

For more information on the film, contact Roaring Fire Films at: roaringfire@hotmail.com

Sandy Mandelberger, Montreal FF Dailies Editor

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