Tim Dingersen and Morgan Leykam have joined digital marketing agency Reason2Be as creative director and strategist, respectively. Dingersen was previously associate creative director at Click 3X, Reason2Be’s parent company. Dingersen has had multiple stints at Click 3X, originally starting with the company over a decade ago. In 2008 Dingersen left to develop Luckeyou, a boutique creative services agency based in New York. During his time at Luckeyou, he oversaw all creative and managed direct-to-brand relationships with a select roster of clientele including Norwegian Cruise Line and ESPN before returning to Click 3X in 2013. Leykam worked for Dentsu Aegis Network in quantitative research at Copernicus, where she helped build segmentations for brands like Office Depot, Diageo, Scotts Miracle-Gro and Kaplan University before joining Carat’s consumer insight division where she worked on Macy’s and Pfizer. Reason2Be, formally known as Raison D’Être, has a client roster including The Estee Lauder Companies’ Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign, VFILES, Make Up For Ever and The Lymphoma Research Foundation….
Directors Dave Mead and Walter May have joined the roster of Dallas-based RockHouse Films, the production house headed by owner and director Rocky Powell. Mead recently wrapped spots for North Texas Water Authority and the Center for Child Protection. Mead spent 10 years at GSD&M, mostly as a broadcast producer. After leaving GSD&M, Mead carved out a successful career as a commercial photographer. Ten years of producing combined with 10 years of shooting has led Mead to the director’s chair. Director May’s credits span such brands as Toyota, Starbucks, ESPN, Walmart and Smirnoff. He has worked with celebrity talent including Katy Perry, Kobe Bryant, Mike Ditka, Serena Williams and Eminem. Most recently he was at ad agency 72andSunny where he was director/editor/creative….
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