By MCN Editor editor@moviecitynews.com

PALADIN TO RELEASE “OTTER 501”

Posted Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 - Comments Off on PALADIN TO RELEASE “OTTER 501”
Be Sociable, Share!

Santa Barbara Fest World Premiere To Be Followed by Spring Theatrical Launch

New York, February 1, 2012 – Paladin announced today that it will release OTTER 501, a new film that chronicles the true story of an orphaned baby otter who is rescued on the Northern California coast, per company president Mark Urman. The latest project from the award-winning and acclaimed filmmaking team at Sea Studios Foundation, OTTER 501 will have its world premiere at this week’s Santa Barbara Film Festival (http://sbiff.festivalgenius.com/2012/films/otter501_bobtalbot_sbiff2012).  Paladin plans a spring release for the film.

A unique hybrid of fact and fiction that takes the traditional wildlife documentary into new and exciting storytelling realms, OTTER 501 is about an otter pup who was separated from her mother when she was just a week old and found washed ashore in June, 2010 on a beach on the Big Sur coast.  Quickly rescued by the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Sea Otter Research and Conservation Program, “501,” as she was called, became part of a groundbreaking surrogate program where she was cared for by humans, and then introduced to an adoptive sea otter mother who, in turn, raised her for months so she could develop the necessary skills to survive back in the wild.

Parallel to this remarkable tale of how 501 got a second chance at life is the story of young Katie, an aspiring biologist who volunteers at the aquarium and who participates in 501’s rescue and support.  Structured as a series of Facebook video posts by Katie, 501’s amazing – and true –story is told from Katie’s point of view, as she herself comes of age emotionally, intellectually, and professionally, courtesy of this baby otter.

Blending documentary and dramatic narrative techniques, OTTER 501 combines stunning original natural history footage with extensive authentic material of 501 (who was filmed over months by the Sea Studios team from the moment she was rescued), and the most modern forms of social media. Both inspiring and illuminating, the film sheds light on important issues facing us all about our ever-changing environment and the ways in which we affect – and are affected by – other species.

About the film Urman says, “501 is one of the more adorable creatures we will see on screen this year.   We are thrilled to be working with Sea Studios Foundation on this wonderful project, and their extensive relationships within the marine wildlife, conservation, and aquarium communities will allow us to build upon many of the innovative grass-roots marketing techniques we employed so successfully last year with Tom Shadyac’s ‘I Am,’ and the highly acclaimed – and similarly themed – documentary, ‘The Whale.’”

Mark Shelley, Executive Director of the Foundation, who conceived the story for OTTER 501, and served as Executive Producer and Director of Photography on the film says, “OTTER 501 is our first foray into the world of theatrical film, and I could not be more pleased than to be in the able hands of Mark Urman and Paladin.  Mark has been a leader in bringing high-quality films to theaters for a long time, and I look forward to working closely with him and his team.”

With Shelley at the helm, Sea Studios Foundation has produced a number of compelling visual narratives about pressing issues, including the award-winning National Geographic prime-time series, “Shape Of Life,” and “Strange Days on Planet Earth,” hosted by Edward Norton and recipient of fourteen international awards.  Joining Shelley behind the camera is director Bob Talbot, a world renowned marine photographer and long-standing Cousteau Society associate, who numbers among his credits The Academy Award-nominated IMAX film, “Dolphins-The Ride,” which he directed and photographed, “Oceanmen—Extreme Dive,” as well as the wildlife sequences for Universal’s “Flipper,” and the Warner Brothers’ “Free Willy” features.  Producer/Writer Josh Rosen, a specialist in long-form non-fiction science and nature programming, has created a number of hour-long documentaries for The Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, National Geographic Channel, The Science Channel, and The History Channel, and most recently worked on the PBS series, “Fabric of the Cosmos.”  He also collaborated with legendary director Werner Herzog on “Little Dieter Learns to Fly” and “My Best Fiend.”

OTTER 501 will premiere on the west coast, with its initial engagements taking place in areas where sea otters reside, including the Bay Area, (where it was filmed, and where Sea Studios makes it headquarters), Seattle, Portland, and Santa Barbara.  National expansion will take place in June and will extend throughout the summer. For more information about the film, please visit http://www.Otter501.com or http://www.seastudios.org.

Paladin’s next release is Taika Waititi’s award-winning New Zealand smash, BOY, which opens in New York on March 2.  Also coming up is Susan Seidelman’s latest film, the dance-themed romance, MUSICAL CHAIRS, which has its New York opening on March 23 and its Los Angeles debut on March 30.

# # #

Be Sociable, Share!

Posted in Movie City News, Press Releases | Comments Off on PALADIN TO RELEASE “OTTER 501”

Comments are closed.

Quote Unquotesee all »

It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon