Independent creative agency Zambezi has named Janine Zaim as its first director of recruiting. Zaim comes to Zambezi from Pereira & O’Dell where she was director of recruiting for their New York and San Francisco offices. At Zambezi Zaim will enlist new talent as well as manage the agency’s employee initiatives and policies.
Zaim’s hiring is the latest in a string of recent key appointments at the agency, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Partner/executive director of technology Justice Erolin, formerly of Deutsch LA, and executive director, marketing and business development Josie Brown, formerly at Omelet, joined Zambezi this year, following the agency’s relocation to spacious new headquarters in the Culver City media corridor. Zaim will be reporting directly to Jean Freeman, COO of Zambezi.
Zaim’s career includes stints as creative services manager and recruiter at twofifteenmccann and director of talent and creative services at Cutwater, both based in San Francisco.
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More