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Directors Caleb Slain and Jay Buim bring fresh, new storytelling styles.

Cruising around Detroit by night may not be the average person's holiday, but in 2019, Caleb Slain, one of BLVD-MTL’s newest directors, transported Sundance audiences into a different side of the Motor City with the film Marshall from Detroit, a mystic journey through the virtual reality-enhanced eyes of its most famous inhabitant: Eminem. 

Based in LA, Caleb Slain is one of the most ambitious young directors working today. He's the sort of enthusiast who pours 200 hours into a viral video tribute to his favourite actor (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), pioneers a method to film the first narrative film using only full moonlight, and spends a year writing a mini-series about Orson Welles by retracing his steps during WWII (his other series pilot recently found a home with Rian Johnson's T-Street). A student of invention, Slain is forever hunting for bold new ways to tell resonant human stories in both his personal and advertising work.

“When I got talking with Caleb last year, I was really impressed with his visual eye and style...we’re very aligned on the types of projects we want to do together, the kind we’re not really seeing enough of right now!” says Andres Norambuena, VP of Content and Experience at BLVD-MTL, now in the Rodeo FX group of companies. After years of splitting time between Quebec and LA, Caleb is "thrilled to have representation in Toronto and Montreal," and eager to use the piano in BLVD-MTL's lobby.

Jay Buim, BLVD-MTL’s other new star talent, comes to storytelling from an authentic and artistic angle: “I’m drawn to the underdog, the everyday, and the seemingly mundane,” he says.

Following years of touring around North America capturing behind-the-scenes experiences with bands such as Future Islands, Jay had the opportunity to work on the cult film Beautiful Losers (2008) and that experience ignited his signature filmmaking style. Just one year later, he was releasing his own debut feature documentary Todd P Goes to Austin (2009). Art and music, two sources of inspiration, have compelled him to tell the stories of giants like Jeff Koons, Kara Walker and the performance artist Nick Cave in new forms of documentary.

“We met Jay at SXSW in Austin two years ago and kept in touch...we wanted him to join us because we loved the human touch he brings out in all his work, he was super excited when we offered to add him to our roster,” says Norambuena. Jay has brought this authentic storytelling style to ads for Enterprise, AirBnB, Frye, Lean Cuisine and Vans. Despite a global pandemic, Jay has completed his first narrative feature this year called Adventures in Success, which will begin its festival run in 2021.

In fact, the invitation to join a Canadian studio, and his love for all things Canadian, brought him to move to Toronto two weeks ago so BLVD-MTL is looking forward to having him on board locally.

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