Cutters Studios has promoted Marian Oliver to editor. The announcement was made by managing director/partner Craig Duncan and managing editor Grant Gustafson.
Oliver began her career in client services at Red Car Chicago in 2009. After earning her degree from Columbia College Chicago, she joined Cutters in 2012 as an assistant editor, where she has honed her craft alongside leading talents working in and beyond the advertising industry. Her most recent projects include campaigns for Meijer, Hallmark, Southwest Airlines, Kiwi, Abbott, belVita, Chamberlain, RetailMeNot and Triscuit.
Per Jacobson, founding partner and creative director for The Distillery Project, recalled, “We fell for Marian long ago when she was assisting Chris Claeys (and snickering along with our antics in the back of his edit suite). From day one, she was quick, smart, and had great instincts–which is why we started giving her editing assignments long before she scored the sweet official title of ‘editor.’”
The Distillery Project’s founder and chief creative officer John Condon added, “They say what we do isn’t rocket science, but then one day you find yourself doing a spot that is in fact rocket science. Marian put together a story that not only explained what it took for the European Space Agency to land a probe on a comet going 34,000 mph, but that also touched people emotionally.”
Oliver, who’s in the Free the Bid database of female talent in the creative industry, said, “The support and leadership at Cutters is unparalleled in my experience, and I have had the opportunity to learn from some of the world’s top editors here. The nurturing, family-like atmosphere here has allowed me to grow into who I am today, which I am exceedingly grateful for.”
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 โ and those many "Babadook" memes โ 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 โ "Bah-Bah-Doooook" โ 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