Liz Laine Reps, Inc. is taking on Midwest representation for Tippett Studio, an animation, media production and VFX company based in Berkeley, Calif. Paul Grimshaw, Tippett EP of commercials and branded content, said that the indie rep firm will help expand the studio’s work in commercials and other short-form content.
Advertainment studio BARK BARK has signed CarolynReps–with Carolyn Hill and Amanda Rosenberg–for national representation for branded partnerships. BARK BARK is known for providing strategy, creative, and production for such noted networks and brands as Warner Brothers, NBC Universal, Food Network, Viacom, Toyota, Target, Sprite, and Absolut.
ZGC, a distributor of professional film, video and digital production and post equipment, has appointed Eric Johnston in the role of sales, Americas. Based out of ZGC’s New Jersey offices, Johnston will develop and grow sales opportunities in the film and broadcast sectors across North, Central and South America. He joins ZGC after seven years with the Vitec Group, originally as product specialist for the OConnor accessories brand and subsequently as strategic account manager for digital cinema and rental houses across seven Vitec Videocom brands. Prior to that he held senior sales and product management roles at ARRI over a five year period. He started his career in sales at Eastman Kodak.
ZOO Digital, a provider of localization and digital distribution services, has brought Tony Ferkranus on board as VP of sales for the Americas. He had been VP of sales for Visual Data Media Services and for Deluxe. He will focus on business development for ZOO in key territories across the U.S., Canada and South America. Ferkranus has extensive experience of all areas of post-production as well as content distribution and has worked in Toronto, New York, Los Angeles and Sydney….
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