Bicoastal Chelsea Pictures has signed independent reps Annie Bossingham and Brad Grubaugh of Boss Talent, Venice, Calif., to handle the West Coast….Colleen McHale has joined Zooma Zooma, New York, to handle East Coast sales….David Marcellino has come aboard wild(child), New York, in the position of head of development. He will be in charge of branding, marketing, new ventures and new business for wild(child), as well as sister shops Voodoo Design and Mac Sound….Lindsay Hood has joined visual effects/motion design/ animation house Spin as its sales and marketing account executive. She is based in the Toronto office of Spin, which also maintains operations in Vancouver, B.C., and Atlanta….DP Giles Dunning has signed with Innovative Artists, Santa Monica, for exclusive representation in commercials, music videos and features….DP Florian Stadler has wrapped principal photography on West of Brooklyn, directed by Danny Cistone, and is again available exclusively via the Lyons Sheldon Prosnit Agency, Los Angeles….
Does “Hundreds of Beavers” Reflect A New Path Forward In Cinema?
Hard as it may be to believe, changing the future of cinema was not on Mike Cheslik's mind when he was making "Hundreds of Beavers." Cheslik was in the Northwoods of Wisconsin with a crew of four, sometimes six, standing in snow and making his friend, Ryland Tews, fall down funny.
"When we were shooting, I kept thinking: It would be so stupid if this got mythologized," says Cheslik.
And yet, "Hundreds of Beavers" has accrued the stuff of, if not quite myth, then certainly lo-fi legend. Cheslik's film, made for just $150,000 and self-distributed in theaters, has managed to gnaw its way into a movie culture largely dominated by big-budget sequels.
"Hundreds of Beavers" is a wordless black-and-white bonanza of slapstick antics about a stranded 19th century applejack salesman (Tews) at war with a bevy of beavers, all of whom are played by actors in mascot costumes.
No one would call "Hundreds of Beavers" expensive looking, but it's far more inventive than much of what Hollywood produces. With some 1,500 effects shots Cheslik slaved over on his home computer, he crafted something like the human version of Donald Duck's snowball fight, and a low-budget heir to the waning tradition of Buster Keaton and "Naked Gun."
At a time when independent filmmaking is more challenged than ever, "Hundreds of Beavers" has, maybe, suggested a new path forward, albeit a particularly beaver-festooned path.
After no major distributor stepped forward, the filmmakers opted to launch the movie themselves, beginning with carnivalesque roadshow screenings. Since opening in January, "Hundreds of Beavers" has played in at least one theater every week of the year, though never more than 33 at once. (Blockbusters typically play in around 4,000 locations.)... Read More