April Maxey, one of eight directors chosen to be a part of AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women, has signed with SUPERLATIVE for spots and branding work. Her short film Work was recently screened at the Sundance and Tribeca film festivals. Maxey has directed spots for Jack Daniels, TomboyX, American Girl and the Tribeca Channel…..
Open Road has launched its branding and design division, PopClutch. Open Road and PopClutch will comprise the full-service entertainment marketing company, Open Road. Paul Brodie, sr. creative Director at Open Road, has been elevated to executive creative director/head of creative of PopClutch. Brodie’s wide-ranging experience spans two decades in the broadcast industry, beginning with a fledgling Sky Sports in London, and followed by roles at Showtime Networks, ABC Entertainment Networks, and branding agency Troika as creative director. Brodie joined Open Road in 2020, running creative for all of its design and motion. Brodie will partner in the leadership of PopClutch with executive producer/head of production Sharre Jacoby, who most recently spent seven-plus years as SVP/executive producer at Known Global (previously Stun Creative), overseeing production and operations. Prior to this, Jacoby ran production for branding agency, Pembrook Productions and previously supervised the motion graphics division for 13+ years at New Wave Entertainment. Earlier, Jacoby was postproduction supervisor on multiple films and TV series….
Multi-disciplinary creative studio Spillt has added motion design artisan Ryan Summers and live-action specialist Brian Eloe as sr. creative directors. Summers has been a creative director and animator at Imaginary Forces, Digital Kitchen and the School of Motion. Among Summers’ accomplishments are title sequences for The Pacific Rim and Person of Interest, as well as creative direction for clients including Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Warner Bros, Starbucks, Pokemon and Google. Eloe’s previous posts include creative, directorial and editorial work for 2C Creative, Impossible and Starz. Some of his most notable campaigns include the season launches of CMT’s hit series Nashville, the launch of Paramount Network’s Bar Rescue, the national commercial for HBO’s “Mayweather v. Pacquiao” and the network integrations for brands like Carl’s Jr., Dunkin’ Donuts, Campbell’s Soup, Bank of America and MillerCoors….
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