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Hipsters Illegally Killed Upstate Deer While Making Hipster Apocalypse Movie
By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 17, 2012
Modified Apr 17, 2012
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By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 17, 2012
Modified Apr 17, 2012
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One of the features to be shown during this year's Tribeca Film Festival is First Winter, which is also known as the fest's "hipster apocalypse movie" because it features Brooklyn hipsters stranded in a remote country farmhouse. Now, as the festival draws near, it turns out that the film crew didn't have a license to shoot and kill two deer! And the hipster film crew killed the deer outside of deer hunting season!
DNAinfo has the details: Ben Dickinson, the director, admitted, "We are idiots. We didn't know how to do this [hunting] stuff... There were so many deer weak from the winter and getting eaten by local dogs we didn't even think about it." Sure, they were just doing the deer a favor.
It took them several days to find a deer, he said, and they had started to think they would have to revise the script to drop the scene.
The crew was practicing yoga inside the farm's main house one day when someone spotted a herd of deer in the neighboring field. They grabbed a rifle and camera and ran outside, Dickson said.
Actor Paul Manza, a 34-year-old Brooklyn yoga instructor who plays "Paul" the yoga instructor in the film and had no prior acting or hunting experience, pulled the trigger. It was unclear who owned the rifle or whether it was registered.
The bullet pierced one deer and passed into a second one behind it, killing the first deer and wounding the second one, Manza and Dickson said. The crew chased the second deer into the woods and shot it again to put it out of its suffering, Manza said.
Then one of the deer was skinned and cooked, all filmed for the movie. Here's a Kickstarter trailer of the movie:
The NY State Department of Environmental Conservation is looking into the matter and its website states, "Have you ever wondered why you need a license to do some of your favorite outdoor activities? Fishing and hunting, as well as other outdoor sports and recreation, require careful management to strike a balance between supply and demand. History proves that the uncontrolled taking of fish and animals can cause the demise of a species. Wildlife biologists, armed with statistical data and habitat studies, can advise the public on the best practice to carry out these activities. Licensing is an effective way of exerting studied control on these activities and, at the same time, helps fund continued data collecting and research efforts."
In another interview, Dickinson acknowledged the hunt was the most trying part of the... shoot. Here's the synopsis of the film from TFF:
When winter begins, life is serene for a group of new-age Brooklynites living in a remote country farmhouse. Sex, drugs, yoga, and organic cooking absorb their days, safely tucked away from the stresses of urban life. But when a blackout of apocalyptic proportions strands them with no heat and no electricity during the coldest winter on record, their utopian commune is breached by anxiety and their idyllic harmony begins to lose its tune. As time wears on and the food supply dwindles, power struggles, jealousy, and desire threaten the group's ability to work together in order to survive.
First Winter
premieres Thursday night and is showing at selected times through April 28.
Tagged
deer
hipster apocalypse movie
hipsters
hunting
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tribeca film festival
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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