HBO goes Birding

Last month I mentioned the inclusion of a short film about, of all things, birding in the film festival of the Austin, Texas, based music fest South by Southwest. 

That movie, The Central Park Effect, received some very encouraging buzz from not only birders, who felt as though this was a film that really got us, but th egeneral public as well.  So much so, that HBO has picked up the film to include in their summer documentary series. 

The Central Park Effect will debut on HBO this summer, after which the film will be available on DVD and on-demand outlets.  So every birder will so have the opportunity to see for themselves what the talk is all about:

Featuring Chris Cooper, Jonathan Franzen and Starr Saphir, among others, the film is directed and produced by Jeffrey Kimball and executive produced by Pamela Hogan and Tom Casciato. The deal was negotiated by Josh Braun of Submarine Entertainment on behalf of the filmmakers with HBO Documentary Films.

THE CENTRAL PARK EFFECT reveals the extraordinary array of wild birds who grace Manhattan’s celebrated patch of green and the equally colorful New Yorkers who schedule their lives around the rhythms of migration. The film focuses on seven main subjects who regularly visit the park and have found a profound connection with this hidden natural world.

“HBO is the ideal home for THE CENTRAL PARK EFFECT and gives us the ability to tell an important story to millions of people,” says filmmaker Jeffrey Kimball. “Even though it’s set in the middle of New York City, this is a story about people’s connection to nature. It’s important for us to realize that as the world becomes more urbanized, nature doesn’t have to entirely disappear from cities.”

Congrats to filmmaker Jeffrey Kimball and all the New York birders, and birds, featured in the film  I know I, for one, look forward to checking it out!

View the film trailer here.