Hostage Films, home to director Ruben Latre and run by executive producer Melissa Beth, has landed East Coast commercial representation with indie reps Ann McKallagat and Drew Miller. Latre won Best New Director with three nominations in a single year at APCP Madrid, was featured in SHOOT’s 2011 New Director’s Showcase, and shortlisted at the AICP Show for Best Cinematography…..
Bicoastal Native Content has added veteran U.S. Hispanic market rep Alana Rothlein, owner of Envisionit, to its sales team. Rothlein, based in Miami, has been a longstanding resource for agencies such as ALMA, Conill, Latinworks, Lopez Negrete, Marca Miami, Zubi Advertising, Y&R and The Bravo Group. She has also secured top-tier directors for brands such as AT&T, Budweiser, Bud Light, Burger King, Chevrolet, Ford, MasterCard, McDonald’s, Modelo, Sears, Subway, Taco Bell, Toyota, Visa, VW, Wal-Mart and Wendy’s….
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