Move comes on heels of his winning Best in Show honor at AICE Awards
Editor Sam Ostrove has relocated to Los Angeles from Cut+Run’s London office. His work was recently recognized at the AICE Awards, winning the Best in Show honor and the Automotive category for the four-minute Volvo “Vintersaga” short directed by Gustav Johansson. Last year, Ostrove and Johansson’s collaboration for Nike Fuelband was awarded the AICE honor for Best Alternative Media, and the duo has also collaborated on “American Band” for Chase and “Let Your Body Speak” for Levi’s.
The epic, AICE winning Volvo “Vintersaga” is an arresting piece of branded content inspired by the Swedish word "vemod" which translates to “a tender sadness, or something that is sad but at the same time beautiful.” The film, the cornerstone of a multi-spot campaign edited by Ostrove, was concepted by agency Forsman & Bodenfors. Ostrove flew to Stockholm to edit the project while director Johansson filmed throughout Sweden with his brother, DP Niklas Johansson who shot the project on 35mm. The visuals and edit are supported by the famous song “Vintersaga,” written by Ted Strom and recorded by Amanda Bergman, that echoes what’s presented on screen with references to geographic places in Sweden and traveling through a winter landscape. With a wealth of incredible footage, Ostrove delved in to find lyrical details and visual connecting points that build to evoke this sense of dark exquisiteness.
“It was a massive job that began with a client who was gutsy, and an agency and director who are visionary,” said Ostrove. “On the edit side, it was epic on many levels including the intensive two week window. I am really proud and honored to garner the awards on behalf of this fantastic project.”
Other editing credits for Ostrove include the recent “Made By You” for Converse directed by WE ARE FROM LA, “I am the PSM” for Adidas and “Evergreen Hero” for Google.
“Sam is a phenomenal editor and we are excited to have him based out of Los Angeles. He has developed a strong client base in the US and is a great addition to the talent and culture here,” said Cut+Run managing director Michelle Eskin. “This move is a natural progression in his career, and a reflection of Cut+Run’s philosophy of sharing editing talent and giving editors the opportunity to experience different offices and cities. It’s how we nurture the talent and foster creative growth.”
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