Dattner Dispoto and Associates has booked DP Xavier Grobet, ASC, for HBO’s Looking Special, a telefilm being directed by Andrew Haigh….Vaddio has named Steve Huey as VP of worldwide sales. Huey is a seasoned sales and marketing executive with over 35 years of experience in IT and AV technology for companies including Polycom, Hewlett-Packard, Compaq, IBM, and Epson. During his time at Polycom, Huey acted as the sr. VP and chief marketing officer developing the worldwide go-to market strategy for the enterprise, public sector, small and medium sized business and consumer markets. Huey also directed worldwide marketing activities including product marketing, global branding and advertising, direct and channel marketing and vertical industry development. At his new roost, Huey will help to further Vaddio’s development in its professional AV and unified communications channels…..
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