Armonk Ski Shop to be Featured in Independent Film

Hickory & Tweed will host filming on Tuesday for independent movie A Birder's Guide to Everything.

The Armonk ski and bicycle shop will get an assumed name for the film, Birder's Junction, with a line of outdoor birder enthusiast products being lined up in a section of the first floor.

The store is one of several shooting locations for the film. Work is planned inside and outside , including the house of the film's producer, Dan Lindau. Somers , including places around Somers High School and the Muscoot River.

Among the cast members planned for the film is Academy Award-winning actor Ben Kingsley.

Aaccording to an online overview from director Rob Meyer, the movie is about a high school student named David Portnoy. He is part of a three-person birding club at high school and believes that an extinct species, a labrador duck, has been found, Lindau recently told the New Castle Town Board when he appeared for a film permit fee waiver request in connection with shooting in Chappaqua.

Portnoy, according to Meyer's summary, also faces a personal situation, as his father is about to marry the woman who nursed his late mother.

On Monday afternoon, pre-production work was being done at Hickory & Tweed, as props for the movie were being brought into the store.

"They're just having at it," Owner Skip Beitzel said.

The store's main operations will be closed Tuesday for the shoot, Beitzel said. The bicycle portion will remain open, however.

"We're thrilled," he said. It is the first time, according to Beitzel, that the store has hosted a film shoot for an outside organization.

Hickory & Tweed is located at 410 Main St. in Armonk.