Photojournalist and nonfiction director signs for TV commercial and advertising content.
NEW YORK–David Turnley, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist and documentary filmmaker, has signed with Curious Pictures for exclusive TV commercial and advertising content representation. His ad work includes commercials and campaigns for Brand Jordan via Wieden + Kennedy, State Farm via DDB, and the financial services company Ameriprise out of R/GA. Turnley was formerly repped for spots by Furlined.
As a photojournalist, Turnley won the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the momentous political changes that shook the world in 1989, including the fall of the Berlin Wall and the uprising at Tiananmen Square in Beijing. He’s been a runner-up for the Pulitzer four other times, and also won the World Press Picture of the Year award twice, the prestigious Robert Capa Award for Courage, and four Overseas Press Club Awards.
He’s been an eyewitness to many of the major news stories of the past 30 years, producing eight books out of these experiences, including his latest, Mandela: Struggle and Triumph. His first documentary film, The Dalai Lama: At Home in Exile, was produced by CNN and won the 2001 Cine Golden Eagle, while also being nominated for an Emmy. He was awarded Best Documentary at the Miami International Film Festival for La Tropical, which he shot in Cuba. He’s currently completing Shenandoah, USA, for which he won a Sundance Grant. Set in a coal-mining town in eastern Pennsylvania, the film tells the story of an incident in which six white star football players beat to death an illegal Mexican immigrant and examines the repercussions of the crime on the community.
“Curious Pictures is a very exciting place right now, given all the disciplines they’re working in, from features to TV shows to games,” said Turnley. “It’s an ever-evolving company, and I think their interest in someone like me is to help them continue to evolve in terms of what they can offer. So in some respects we share similar goals.”
Turnley sees his work in photojournalism as a form of storytelling. He said his method relies on a camera “to tell stories about human dignity,” and that he strives to convey these narratives in visually evocative and intimate ways. “It’s an approach inspired by the work of publications such as LIFE magazine,” he explained.
He’s also used to working in a streamlined, efficient manner that results in work he says can be disarmingly honest. “As someone who’s spent a lot of time in combat zones, I’ve worked on the edge quite a bit,” he said. “And that’s what I’m trying to do in the commercials arena. My goal is to create work that has a sense of honesty and intimacy while also reflecting a strong visual aesthetic.”
“David’s got a phenomenal eye and great professional courage, which serves his directing career well,” said Mary Knox, managing director of commercials for Curious Pictures. “Signing David adds a strong storyteller and documentarian to our growing live-action roster and adds another extremely smart thinker to our company.”
Turnley joins a Curious live-action roster that already includes such talents as Steve Chase, tabletop director Greg Ramsey, and fashion photographer/documentarian Douglas Keeve. Most recently, the studio signed director Michael Wiehart, a former creative director at Superfad.
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