Prodigious, the content production arm of Publicis Groupe, has hired Jacques del Conte as sr. editor. He joins the agency’s growing editorial team at its state-of-the-art campus in Brooklyn’s Industry City.
“Working at the intersection of film and technology, Jacques has developed an impressive reputation for adaptability in an ever-changing digital video landscape,” said Beth Fitzpatrick, executive producer at Prodigious. “Adding a talented editor with Jacques’ skill-set and experience will be a huge asset to us and our clients.”
For the past decade, del Conte has been working in and around the commercial video world as an editor, collaborating with directors such as The Mercadantes, Zachary Heinzerling, Ghost+ Cow, and Fisher Stevens. His clients have included Budweiser, YouTube, Major League Baseball, Microsoft, Johnnie Walker and Converse. Del Conte joins Prodigious from Anomaly, where he helped design and execute the expansion of its internal postproduction department, growing from one small editing bay to a robust,independent production company.
Del Conte studied photography at Bard College. He became a contributing photographer and editor for print and web publications including Vanity Fair Magazine, where he had the honor of working with Christopher Hitchens, Sebastian Junger, Buzz Bissinger, Mark Seliger, and Annie Leibovitz.
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