Cutters Studios Detroit has promoted Justin Grosjean to editor. The announcement was made by executive producer Mary Connolly and managing director Kurt Kulas.
While Grosjean first joined the company four years ago as an intern, even at that time, he was already in the global spotlight for creative production. Starting in 2012, Justin and his twin brother John launched the very successful GoBroPros Youtube channel that included the highly-original “Skyrim” parody series. The series quickly attracted worldwide acclaim for its VFX-intensive execution, racking up over 5 million views to date. Also, as a student at Michigan State University (B.A., Media Arts and Technology Film, 2012), two MSU film projects he edited won 2014 and 2015 Regional Emmy Awards for Best Historical Documentary.
Grosjean made short work of ascending to the position of full-time assistant editor at Cutters, where his technical and creative insights made him an invaluable collaborator right away. Editors Louis Lyne, Kevin O’Brien, Kathryn Hempel and others uniformly describe his passion for the craft as “inspiring.” Grosjean’s dedication has led to shared editorial projects – and direct requests from clients. Among the leading agencies who regularly turn to him for high-profile projects are GTB (for clients Ford, Lincoln, Warriors in Pink), Commonwealth (for Chevrolet), and Driven Communications (for Fender and ELS).
Beyond Detroit, Grosjean has also impacted other Cutters Studios operations. In 2016 he spent time at Cutters Tokyo, supporting staff editors there and co-editing a spot with Aika Miyake for Love Liner which aired nationally in Japan. He returned to Detroit in time to collect another Michigan Emmy Award for a project he edited for the Detroit Lions, as well as the prestigious D Show Award for Editing Craft for his “25 Years in 25 Seconds” spot for The Detroit Red Wings.
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