Engine Group, a global marketing services network, announced the appointment of Aaron Dus to VP of strategy and innovation for Engine West. He will be reporting to Doug Troy, chief operating and financial officer, Engine West.
Based out of the company’s Los Angeles office, Dus will work with Engine’s West Coast agencies, including digitally led creative shop Deep Focus, entertainment and content marketing agency Trailer Park, full-service creative agency Art Machine, as well as the content creation and distribution offering Moment Studio. He will be charged with leading strategic direction and collaborative opportunities for these agencies and their existing clients, including YouTube, Neutrogena and the Los Angeles Rams. In addition, Dus will also work closely with Engine Group East’s chief strategy officer Jonathan Lum to drive integration and synergy across Engine US.
Dus joins Engine Group from Rosetta│Razorfish Global where, as associate partner and VP of strategic planning, he was responsible for leading the agency’s SWAT Team and overseeing strategic initiatives on clients like Samsung, MagicLeap, and Bolthouse Farms.
“Innovation that really makes an impact begins with the right strategy,” said Dus. “Engine is a network that has integration and strategy at its core. I’m excited to be working with such a strong team of leaders, helping to cross-pollinate their ideas and inspire them to think differently for clients.”
Dus has been recognized for his work with a number of awards. Most notably, he received the Gold David Ogilvy Award in the financial services category in 2011 for his work on Ameriprize Financial’s “More Within Reach” platform. Throughout his career he has worked with such brands as eBay, Walmart, MasterCard, and LEGO.
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